Same Color Blue (Remake)
by AngeloftheMorning1978
Summary: This is fine tuning a VERY long story called "That Same Color Blue" Set 15 years before the events of Bates Motel. Sam Bates drags his wife Norma and her two young sons to White Pine Bay. Once there, they are immediately met by Deputy Alex Romero. Romero's life changes as he keeps finding himself pulled closer to the headstrong young mother, Norma Bates. Normero FOREVER!
1. Chapter 1

**This is a remake or remastered version of my original story " _That Same Color Blue_ ". I love a lot of that story, but I'll be the first to admit, there were plot holes and too many angst. Not enough romance or focus on the main Normero plot. **

**So, I'm redoing it so that main plot will improve. Now a LOT of the first part of the original story will stay the same. However a LOT will be removed and/or redone to make the story work better.**

 **I'm going to put the disclaimer in now that I'm not afraid to write about touchy subjects. Domestic abuse, incest, child abuse, child molestation, murder, rape and death.**

 **Reader you are warned, and continue at your own risk.**

 **There will be romantic erotica along with all the violence and disturbing accounts of childhood trauma and abuse.**

 **That Same Color Blue (Remake)**

1.

~ It had rained non stop since the old Buick crossed the state line into Oregon. Norma Bates couldn't help but think it was a bad omen of their future here. Nothing ever good came from so much misery and darkness. Added to that the stress of driving with two small children and very little money.

Still, what was she supposed to do when her husband Sam woke all of them up in the middle of the night and told them they were leaving? He looked like he'd been in a fight, but Norma knew weeks before, that they would have to leave town soon anyway.

She'd prepared for it. Insulated herself and her two small sons to it. She had always braced herself for the worst because eventually the worst would always happen. Nothing good ever lasted. Nothing gold could stay.

She knew when their electricity had been cut off and the landlord posted a notice about the rent being late, that she had to prepare to leave their cramped apartment. That she had to pack the things she couldn't live without and be ready. Ever since she could remember, she'd lived a fragile existence. One that could easily blow away with the wind.

Norma's entire life had been spent in a sort of limbo. She told herself that her parents were just wild hippies who were intent to roam the country and have their children raised by nature. She told everyone else a different story. Her stories of childhood were oddly grounded and boring. A romantic upbringing in a place with deep roots. A life that couldn't fracture because of a slight breeze.

She'd packed up the old Buick and then put her two boys in the back. Sam had been chain smoking, not helping, and seemed ready to leave them behind. Norma almost wished he would, but she was too afraid of a life without him. Sometimes her husband was good about working. About paying bills on time and keeping a job. Norma always knew that soon enough, he would fall back into his old habits.

She hadn't bothered to ask where they were going. She doubted even Sam knew. All that was important right now was escaping creditors or people who Sam had pissed off.

They drove all day and night till they reached a state sign the said they were in Oregon. Norma worried that she and the boys didn't have warm clothes for this part of the country. They'd come from Arizona. The air was always dry and hot. She wasn't ready for the chill that seeped into her bones and the wetness that made her hair frizz.

Sam had finally stopped the Buick at a run down gas station. Norma had gently suggested getting a motel for the night. Her husband having finished a six pack of beer in the last two hours. All while driving with young children in the car.

Maybe he'd been tired himself, but for once he'd agreed with her. Norma having to hold in her complaints and worries when Sam was like this. When he was drinking and angry at the world, he was liable to take it out on her.

"I'll ask where there's some place cheap nearby." Sam grumbled before sliding out of the driver's seat and slamming the door shut with a little too much force.

Norma bit hard on her bottom lip and imagined stabbing him over and over agin with a large kitchen knife. She thought about how the blood would feel coming out of his bloated, useless body. How it would be hot and thick and run freely through the open wounds. She smiled slightly at the thought of how easily he would bleed. Sam was on blood thinners for his heart so he would bleed out quickly. He would die before an ambulance got to him.

The idea of her husband dying by her own hands, delighted Norma Bates. It delighted her in the same way hearing juicy gossip about someone she hated made her feel better about her own crappy life. A dark and tormented place in her mind where she was only really happy when she was miserable.

She didn't like this part of her. She knew that she didn't want to be this angry and bitter person, but it was her only defense. She'd learned the hard way about letting people keep taking from you. They would always keep taking till there was nothing left and Norma felt like she truly had nothing right now.

 _'What would I do without you, Sam?'_ she mused. Her teeth were grinding as she thought about how much better her life would be with him gone. _'Well, I would collect all that life insurance you think I don't know about._ _I would buy new clothes to. New clothes, from a nice, expensive shop. Not the trailer park fashion line from the local discount store.'_

She liked the idea of being dressed well, even though it was never something she had been able to achieve. In all her life she had never owned nice clothes. She was barely a woman when she became a mother. She was a wife before she even finished high school. She was a mistress before her first baby was walking. Now she felt her life was over before the age of 25. Such a life should be against the law. Or at the very least a movie of the week on cable.

She felt her sprits sink at this epiphany. An awful moment of realization that her life would always be like this. Always doomed in the end.

"Coming this summer, Norma Bates: A Cautionary Tale". she said at her own reflection in the side mirror. She had been avoiding mirrors the whole trip. She, Sam and the two boys had been sleeping in the car to save money and the stress on her face was evident. She wasn't even in her mid twenties and she looked so beaten and worn down.

She stared at her own reflection for a while. Her dish water blond hair was coming lose and she hadn't bothered with make up for days. The mirror telling her that she was dirty and trashy and would always be that way.

She didn't want to be trashy anymore. She looked over her face and caught her own sad blue eyes looking back at her. Norma had her mother's eyes and she was always told that they were her best feature. Never her smile, because she never smiled. Never her body because of her shapeless cheap clothes, never her dirty blond hair that she refused to style. Her eyes were always what set her apart. The thing that made her sort of beautiful at times. But the blue was always sad. Like a storm was coming on a high and lonely sea.

"Baby!" Sam shouted and Norma was forced out of her little world of storms and seas and sad eye color to see Sam rushing to the old Buick. Her leaned down and grinned at her.

"We're just outside of White Pine Bay." he said. His voice sounding like he had personally lead a wagon train through the mountains instead of getting lost twice to avoid toll roads on the main high way.

"Oh." Norma breathed. "Good." she glanced in the back seat at her sleeping boys.

Norman, good, sweet, perfect Norman, was asleep in his car seat. The two year old covered with the blanket she had made for him. His brown hair, soft as bird feathers, calling for Norma to smooth down. Her heart swelled at the sight of her boy. He was her own precious jewel. A beautiful creature that had grown inside of her and became the best thing she had ever done, and the only good thing Sam had ever given her. At just two years old he was way ahead of the other kids. Norma was sure of that.

A sickly cough rumbled from beside Norma and she snapped her attention to her oldest child Dylan. The five year old glared at her with eyes that made her sick to her stomach. Dylan was his real father in miniature and that wasn't a good thing. She recoiled away from her first born out of instinct. A self preservation she had learned when she was too young to know about these horrible things. She avoided touching her oldest and couldn't help but glare at him.

The child, knowing he was unloved, glared right back at her. His father's eyes accusing her. Hating her and wanting love from her she just couldn't give.

"Dylan, we're almost there." Norma said. Her voice cracked slightly.

It had started to rain again and the cab of the old Buick echoed each heavy rain drop and cast the sound out louder. Norma hated this car. The old rusted piece of junk that Sam called his ' _baby_ ' was their only means of transportation. Sam's real baby, Norman, went without decent shoes and wore clothes too small. But there was always money for beer and parts for the Buick and trips to the strip club once a week.

 _'When you're dead I'm getting myself a nice car._ ' Norma thought. She glared at her husband while he finished pumping some gas and climbed back inside.

"We'll be at the Seafairer Motel in no time." Sam said proudly. Norma could smell the drink on his breath and winced.

"Is that where we're going?" she asked nervously. She didn't want to worry Dylan with their problems. Her oldest child always seemed like he knew too much. Dylan never talked when he was younger and Norma worried he might be retarded, given his paternity. But he scored above average on tests and eventually spoke whole sentences with ease. Always demanding things when he talked. Always wanting something he couldn't have and Norma couldn't give him.

"The guy in there said to talk to the motel owner. Some asshole named Keith Summers." Sam said. Her husband was a little too happy and she noticed his eyes were unfocused. "Said that the owner is looking to hire someone to run the place."

"Maybe I should drive." Norma offered.

"Shut up!" Sam snapped. His mood changing so fast Norma felt her face burn hot from the reprimand. She looked away from her husband and back to her own sad reflection. Her eyes the color of a violent tempest on the rise.

~ Deputy Alex Romero liked the night shift. It was nothing more exciting than catching speeders coming into White Pine Bay. He was ruthless in never letting anyone off with just a warning. Especially on nights when it was raining. A night like this, the streets were wet and black. The rain always made driving hard with all the curves and blind spots. It was only a matter of time before some asshole hit the slickest part of the road, spun out and killed everyone in the car. All because they had too much to drink or couldn't slow the hell down.

 _'Where do these people have to be in such a damn hurry?'_ he wondered to himself. _'The Wal-Mart outside of town is open 24 hours now.'_

He almost smiled at his own joke, but Alex had given up smiling a long time ago. He had given up prayer to. He blinked hard at the idea of turning his back on praying. It felt like he had been slapped to remind himself he no longer believed in God.

His mother was the only person he knew who truly believed. She had taught him from an early age how to pray and how to let that special light into you heart and mind. A light that would let him know he was loved in some unknowable way.

When he was young, she would have him write down all his prayers in her little notebook at the kitchen table. She would have him recount all the bad things he wanted taken away. How his classmate Bobby Paris had pushed him on the playground, and how fat Keith Summers and beaten him up and spat in his face. His mother saying gently that they would grow up to be broken men, but her son would be whole.

Still, faith alone hadn't saved his mother. Nothing could.

Alex had always been closer to his mother than his father. His father, the former Sheriff of White Pine Bay, had always been called The Old Bear and not because he was cuddly. Where The Old Bear walked, lesser beings trembled and hid. The former Sheriff Romero had a reputation and he let that reputation do most of the work. The old man's voice was soft and polite like, just like Alex's, but the words that came out were like venom. Sheriff Romero could make even the hardest of men turn on each other in a matter of hours. With a confidant little smirk and telling the suspect what he feared most was happening. The meanest criminals sang songs to The Old Bear.

Things changed over five years ago. Alex had come to the farm house to take his mother to church. The night before, she had taken a combination of someone else's sleeping pills and her own anxiety medication.

Theresa Romero's son found her dead in bed. Her lips blue, her skin gray. She was beautiful in that moment of death. She looked just like she was sleeping. She hadn't vomited in a final attempt to live. She had just gone to sleep and never woke up. Her pale blue lips were curled into a delicate smile as she let go of life.

Alex shut his eyes at the memory of that summer day. He hated thinking about it. Hated the sunlight casting cheerful rays through the window of his mother's bedroom. Hated that the ambulance was so slow to get there. Hated the looks people in town gave him and how they always thought it was okay to ask personal questions about her death. He especially hated how his father didn't even know about his wife till hours later. The Old Bear probably spending time with one of his girlfriends when it happened.

Rather than show emotion, Alex let his face remain indifferent. He sipped his coffee and read his notes from class. He was in the final home stretch of exams to get his degree. Something he'd earned through online courses, extension classes and sacrificing any kind of social life.

He'd put off college to join the Marines right out of High School. He'd done two tours and received a bronze star for bravery during the Gulf War. After an honorable discharge, he surprised none of his fellow Marines when he became a cop. He'd always had the temperament for it. He'd aced every test, every physical. Hell, even the FBI wanted Alex Romero to come and work for them.

What was surprising was that Alex went back to his home town. Where the people were horrible, but the fishing was good. Not everyone was horrible in White Pine Bay of course. Just the vast majority of the people Alex knew. He had a dream of burning them all to the ground. Scorching the earth of all the bad things till nothing but good things grew. A silly dream. Alex knew there was no such thing as good and bad; there was only winners and losers. The winners decided who the good guys were. The winners were always the ones with money and White Pine Bay had more than its share of wealthy citizens with shady dealings.

That was the cold hard facts of life in the town Alex grew up in.

When the Old Bear Romero was arrested three years ago for drug trafficking, corruption, murder and a laundry list of other charges, the town had turned itself inside out, trying desperately to save itself from disaster.

Alex survived the carnage of the FBI and DEA investigation that gutted the town's drug trade. The federal agents had nothing on the young deputy. Even if he was the Sheriff's kid, it was painfully obvious Deputy Alex Romero wasn't the kind of man bad guys trusted.

During the raids and arrests, Alex had gotten used to old friends talking to him for no reason after so many years of indifference. Their voices louder than normal and asking leading questions about things that no one ever spoke of out loud. It always meant they were wearing a wire and trying to trap him into confessing something. Alex saw them coming a mile away and got to where it was a game after a while.

 _'Oh so-and-so was doing that all this time? Wow, I had no idea.'_ he would say with wide eyed innocence. Always giving the old friend a knowing smirk that said he was glad they were going away for a long time.

Such tactics saved his career and kept him free of any federal charges, but it didn't earn him any friends. Which was fine with him. He had all the friends he needed.

From the back of the SUV, Graceland had grown bored and leaned her head over to inspect her master's reading. She was the only K-9 the department had and the only partner Alex had wanted. She had been trained to be a bomb sniffing dog for the airports, but failed her training. Alex adopted her right away because as a German Shepard, she would easily make a good police dog for the Sheriff's department.

What Graceland lacked in bomb sniffing skills, she made up for in her company and ability to bark loudly at anyone her human might dislike. It was a trait Alex appreciated. Especially when he was arresting someone. Once the dog started barking and seemed ready to maul someone, it was always easier to get a suspect to comply.

"Here, girl." Alex said and gave Graceland the last bite of his sandwich. The dog, greedy for people food, quickly took it and retreated to the back seat again.

Alex saw dimmed headlights cresting the turn from his cozy speed trap. He closed his book and judged the rate the headlights were coming in was too fast. Especially on these rain slicked roads.

He felt annoyance at the recklessness of the driver. It was pouring outside and his headlights were too dim to properly light the street ahead. Plus there were patches of road that the rain loved to flood. All of which could cause the car to hydroplane into a ditch. Alex turned on the engine, waited till he could hear the sound of the older car, and allowed it to fly past him.

The older model was going over 80 in a 55 zone and the deputy was quick to follow it. The lights from the police SUV flashing and sirens blaring behind a battered old Buick with an Arizona license plate.


	2. Chapter 2

2.

~ "Mom?" Dylan's voice was fragile over the sound of the rain and the approaching police siren.

Norma tried to suppress the natural panic that always came when police lights flashed behind you.

"Fuck." Sam said bitterly. The old Buick slowed, but weaved into the other lane, its driver trying to regain control on the wet road.

"Sam!" Norma shouted. She knew she shouldn't correct him. Knew very well what her husband would do if he felt she was nagging him or talking back, but she couldn't help herself. The Buick almost skidded out and she imagined all of them dead.

"Shut up!" Sam roared. His voice now sharp and angry. His guerrilla like arms flexing with surpassed rage.

"Slow down! The cop is pulling us over!" Norma snapped back. She glanced behind her at Norman. Her youngest son was awake and staring back at her. His eyes wide with fear and he was looking at her to see what was wrong.

"It's okay, honey." Norma said in a falsely sweet voice.

"It's not my fault!" Sam shouted and Norma felt his large hands grab her hair and yank her head back.

The Buick swerved dangerously into the other lane again. Norma could feel the tires run over raised reflectors and braced herself for the impact of a guard rail. Sam swerved the car again, letting go of her hair at the same time. She felt her body being pushed back in her seat from the force of Sam's driving and was thankful her seatbelt was on. Sam seemed intent on ignoring the cop till he decided he was ready to pull over. He slowed when they reached a slight bend in the road and casually pulled to a stop.

Norma held her breath. She knew what was coming. She hadn't been married to him for long, but she knew what was going to happen next.

"Look what you did!" Sam shouted and the slap he delivered across her face brought tears to her eyes. She didn't mean to start crying. She never really let Sam's outbursts bring her to tears anymore. It was just so many days of driving. So many years of never feeling safe that made her start to weep with long anguished cries.

"Shut up. I swear to God, Norma, if you don't shut up." Sam said angrily. "I'm gonna go talk to this asshole. When I come back you had better be quite."

"Mot-er?" Norman's little voice called out to her. Sam's big body hoisted itself out of the car without turning off the engine. With his departure, Norma felt the tension ease. That feeling of always walking on eggshells was gone. It had always been that way when he'd leave for work. Her and the boys were able to relax when he wasn't around. She quickly locked the doors behind him. A mother's instinct to keep her children safe.

Sadness and fear had turned into rage now. The humiliation that she'd allowed Sam to slap her across the face in front of her boys. Why did she let that happen? What kind of a mother would let that happen?

Norma wiped her eyes so Dylan and Norman wouldn't see any more of her tears than they had already. She turned around in her seat to watch her idiot husband stumbling over to the flashing lights of the cop car. She may be stupid like Sam was always telling her, but she knew better than to get out of the car without the cop telling you to do so. She hoped he wouldn't get arrested. They had no money left and Norma had no way back to Arizona if they lost there only means of support. Sam wasn't good for much, but she had two young boys who needed to be taken care of. Norma had never been on her own before. She'd never held a real job, aside from being a full time wife and mother, and she was afraid.

Norma couldn't look away from the figure approaching her husband. The headlights from the police SUV created a glare but she could still make out a tall, trim figure with a hand on the butt of his side arm. She caught her breath when she realized he was ready to shoot her husband.

It would be easier if Sam were shot and killed tonight. All that life insurance that his family paid for would be Norma's and the boys. She would be fine with that money. She felt a wonderful hate rush over her. It must be what the powerful feel like when they do cruel things and can get away with it. It was a hatred that made her feel beautiful.

 _'Oh and if you die, Sam?_ ' she thought with a sinister wish _'I won't EVER remarry.'_

~ Deputy Alex Romero had to wonder what kind of idiot would jump out of his car and approach an armed cop after, failing to pull over and swerving into the opposing lane. Twice. Was he looking to get shot? Alex wasn't afraid to shot a man if need be. He had done it before in the Gulf War, and it had never phased him. Still, he hoped he wouldn't have to put three bullets into this drunk over a simple traffic stop.

Graceland gave just a few loud barks from her place in the back seat. Alex having rolled the window down so she could freely jump out if called into action. Until then, she'd been trained to wait in the back. Occasionally letting suspects know she was there with an aggressive bark.

It was pouring down rain, but the weather didn't bother Romero much. He had grown up in this town and the cold, heavy rain was just something you got used to. He could see the suspect's blood shot eyes already. Drunks behind the wheel were the worst. There was no excuse for them. They were always dangerous, in and out of the car.

"Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to stop where you are." Alex said in a calm voice. His hand went instinctively to his side arm while his eyes never left the beefy man marching towards him without slowing down. The suspect was unarmed, but Alex knew he was ready for a fight.

"You just had to try and pull me over, you prick!" the man shouted.

At least it ended quickly.

The driver stepped too close, and the Deputy reacted instantly. Alex grabbed the man's hand before he had made a fist, pushed the suspect in the back and pulled his arm behind him. The cuffs came out, and made a satisfying clacking noise as they clicked into place. The beefy man, now realizing what was happening tried to pull away, but Alex already had the advantage. The Deputy was too fast and too strong for him at any rate. In a second, Alex had the suspect on his knees and had pushed his screaming face into the gravel of the breakdown lane. The man started to cry and scream when Alex made the cuffs a little too tight just for spite.

Graceland was barking and pacing in the back seat. Eager for Alex to give her the command for attack.

"Stop resisting." Romero warned. "I'll call the dog on you. You don't want that."

His suspect finally relaxed a little, but still told the deputy where to go along with a lot of other profane names thrown in. The fight was out of him with the simple threat of a large police dog.

Romero finally looked up at the old Buick and saw a woman leaning behind the passenger seat staring back at him. Her pale face was expressionless in the light of the police car's high beams. Alex was never sure why afterwards, such a thing had never happened to him before, but her eyes caught his attention. They were just so… bright. Like they shone brighter than anything there that horrible night. He felt something turn over inside him. Something he couldn't describe and quickly shook it off.

"Bitch!" the suspect was shouting before he started crying. "You fucking bitch come over here… come and help me!"

Alex was pulled away from exchanging stares with the woman and glanced down at his suspect. He realized then that the woman had to be with this guy. How very disappointing.

"Ma'am, I need you to stay in the car." Alex said calmly. His voice was raised only enough to be heard over the rain. Alex didn't yell. He only yelled when he had to and he wasn't there yet.

He saw the woman nod at him. Her mouth parting slightly and her face showing real worry. She watched him force the unruly driver to his feet. The deputy took a firmer hold of the man's arm than necessary and hoped it hurt him.

"Get off you, you… get off!" the man shouted. His speech was still badly slurred.

"Graceland, guard!" Alex shouted. Like she was made of air, the dog leaped from the back seat window and landed perfectly outside the SUV. Graceland didn't run, but trotted over to the suspect. Her muzzle aimed directly at the groin when she started to growl malevolently.

"Want the dog?" Romero asked again.

His suspect flinched away from the Graceland's very clear threat. He was finished fighting for one night.

Alex made sure to push his suspect to one side and over correct him to the other. Throwing him off balance enough to keep a firm control.

"Watch your head." Romero said cooly. With very little effort, he shoved the beefy man into the back of his SUV. "Don't puke in my cab." he added dryly. He didn't know what it was about cop cars. Drunks loved to throw up in them.

"Shotgun." Alex ordered the dog when he opened the driver's side door. The dog happily leaping back inside the cab just as the rain finally stopped. He'd trained Graceland himself since she washed out of bomb sniffing school. All her commands were well practiced and she was very good at them. Even now, she stood perfectly still in the passenger seat. Her body tense and her focus on the suspect. No one was getting away on her watch.

"Oh." Alex said as an afterthought. "Don't do anything to piss the dog off."

He felt a little giddy at the look of fear in the drunk man's face. Graceland letting out a low growl to let him know she would attack.

Alex was was finally able to refocus his attention on the passenger of the Buick. He reminded himself to be calm. He took a deep breath, pulled out his flashlight and called in the out of state plates on his personal radio. Dispatch gave a garbled message to hold and Alex took the time to walk closer to the car. The woman still hadn't moved. She reminded Alex of a rabbit caught in headlights. He shone the flash light beam into the cab of the old car and was surprised to see two young boys sitting calmly in the back seat.

It was well past midnight. Why were these children in a car with a drunk driver instead of at home asleep?

He tapped on the passenger window with the end of the flashlight and the woman rolled it down.

"Ma'am, can you step out of the car, please?" Alex asked.

He shone the light on the woman's face. She seemed to grow paler from the question. He spotted redness around her eyes, but thought it might be from crying. Her stare was too focused to be intoxicated. He saw that her blond hair was messed, but she was quickly smoothing it down. Her hands trying to clear her face, trying to look presentable if such a thing were possible. She looked scared and nervous to be in such a situation. Her eyes, still so bright in a world of drabness, were all he kept wanting to focus on.

~ Norma found it hard to breathe. She had watched Sam get his ass handed to him like it was nothing. The part of her that still loved him felt outraged that this cop had arrested her husband and treated him so bad. Even if Sam deserved it.

She was shaking slightly when she stepped out of the car. She had to try and explain what was happening.

"Are you or the children hurt?" the cop asked. He had a very calm and intelligent presence that was reassuring. His eyes looked like they were taking in every detail of their situation. They no doubt saw the peeling paint of the car, the rusted bumper, the family's shabby clothes and the expensive stereo Sam put in when they got their tax money back a few months ago.

"Um…." Norma said and couldn't stop her hands from shaking. Couldn't control that dizziness she'd felt when they almost ran off the road. That cop was looking at her now. His focus was like a drill bit. Waiting for her to say something stupid so she would be arrested with Sam.

She looked at back Norman and took a deep breath for courage.

"Yes, officer." she said with a halfhearted smile. "I mean no! No, we're all fine."

He didn't look away from her. He was waiting for her to say more, but Norma couldn't think of anything to add. She had learned the hard way never to share information. Even if it's to get help. People would always hold it agist you if you told them about bad things that happened. Even if it wasn't your fault. Never tell people about your troubles. They would just use your weaknesses to hurt you.

That cop was still looking at her. Willing her to say something. His face was cold and he showed no signs of wanting to be friendly or even compassionate to her. Norma looked right back at him but felt herself caving into a sudden hopelessness that gripped her hard enough to draw blood. She wrapped her arms around her chest when a biting cold wind hit them. It felt like it was winter here with all this cold and rain. Her thin cotton dress had been perfect for back home, now proved inadequate for the Oregon.

Finally, the cop rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I had to arrest the driver. He was violent." the cop said.

Norma nodded and swallowed hard. The cop waited for her to say something. She remained silent. Her tongue feeling like lead.

"He was swerving on the road. He was agitated and I could smell alcohol on his breath. Did he hurt you or the boys, ma'am?" he asked

Norma shook her head.

"No." she lied. "No. Sam never hurts us."

She put her fingers to her lips as soon as the words left her mouth. How could she lie for Sam? He wasn't worth lying for, and yet she didn't want this cop to think she was an abused wife.

The cop looked at her curiously. His jaw working as if he were chewing gum. The two of them kept their eyes locked for what felt like a long time. She knew that he didn't believe her, but she couldn't tell him the truth. She didn't want to be that kind of woman. The kind someone had to protect because she was stupid enough to marry a horrible man.

"Where are you headed?" the cop asked at last.

"Here. To Oregon." Norma tried to explained.

"Why at night? All this rain is dangerous." the cop interrupted rudely.

"I'm not sure why. We-"

"Do you have family here in Oregon?" the cop interrupted again.

"No. Sam, my-" Norma started to say but didn't want to admit that Sam was her husband. "We were on our way to a motel."

"Which one?" the cop questioned.

"I don't know."

"Why did you come to Oregon?"

"I think…" Norma said with a shaky voice. "We're just tourists."

"This is the off season for tourism." the cop told her coldly.

Norma had to search for a comeback. She eventually shrugged. The cop looked unhappy.

"Where are you from?" he asked.

"Arizona." Norma said sadly.

He nodded and pulled away when his radio blared with the chatter of a dispatcher that Norma couldn't hear. She looked nervously at the boys and they looked back at her with scared little faces. She nodded at them and tried to smile. Dylan didn't believe her naturally, but Norman seemed comforted. Norma watched the police officer standing by their car. It had been pouring rain before and he didn't even have a hat on. Still, he seemed unconcerned by the horrible weather. She felt nervous around this man for some reason. Like he had some kind of sense that showed him all her secrets. Norma buttoned her thin blue cardigan closer to her neck and wished she was someplace safe and warm. The air was so cold and her dress was cotton. Too light for this type of climate.

"Sam Bates." the cop interrupted her thoughts. His flashlight was out again and he was shining the beam back at her and boys.

"Yes." Norma said sadly.

"What was your name?" the cop asked.

"Me? I'm Norma Bates. I'm… well I'm his wife."

"Are these your children?" he asked. The light's beam was tickling over Dylan and Norman. The boys looking scared at the idea that maybe they were in trouble to.

"Yes." she answered.

"If I search the car, if I bring the dog out, am I going to find anything I shouldn't?" he asked.

Norma must have given him a confused look. She didn't know what he meant by things he shouldn't find. The cop looked annoyed, but let the question of searching her car drop.

"Well, Mrs. Bates." he sighed. "I'm afraid your husband has a bench warrant for failure to appear in court back in Arizona."

Norma didn't understand what he was saying.

"A warrant? Wait, for what?" she question.

"They didn't say." he told her indifferently. "He's going to be held overnight. Do you and the boys have a place to go? Anyone who can meet you in White Pine Bay? It's the nearest town."

"No." Norma admitted defeatedly. Her heart was beating hard. What was going to happen to them?

"You can follow me into town and we can make arrangements from there." the cop said. Those intelligent eyes of his looked over her clothes that were made for the warmth of Arizona.  
She caught him looking and wrapped her arms tighter around her chest.

"Get back in the car, ma'am. It's too cold to be out wearing that." the cop said in annoyance.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

~ The woman, Norma Bates, had followed Alex's SUV to the police station. Alex waved down the sheriff's department's newest recruit, Zach Shelby, to help him bring Sam Bates inside.

The younger man was hardly out of high school and Alex thought he would never make it as a cop. Zach still had that annoying arrogance and easy charm reminiscent of all the popular jocks Alex had gone to school with.

Give it a few years. Zach Shelby would be another Bob Paris or at worse, another Keith Summers.

"This one goes in the drunk tank. Sam Bates. I'll get started on the paperwork." Romero sighed.

Graceland had faithfully walked by her partner's side until Shelby guided the suspect to the line of cells where they let all the local boozers dry out.

Romero barely had time to reach his desk, Graceland settling in her dog bed beside him, before this woman, who walked faster than anyone he ever saw, was marching up to the front office and demanding answers. She tapped loudly on the window that separated the office from the waiting room.

Clarice, the painfully thin office manager had the honor of dealing with Mrs. Bates.

"Sam Bates? What's the bench warrant for? He was off probation after he hurt his back at work." the Bates woman insisted. Clarice pushed her large, old lady glasses higher up on her nose and did a quick search on the computer.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am." she said nervously. "It says failure to appear before a judge. Doesn't say what for."

"Well, can't you call someone?" Mrs. Bates demanded.

Zach Shelby came back from lock up and gave Alex a thumbs up and a smile. A gesture that made Romero want to punch him in his perfect face.

Alex pretended to make a phone call, but he chanced a look back at the brewing situation of Mrs. Bates and her two boys. The youngest, a small, thin boy with bright blue eyes like hers was cradled effortlessly on one hip. His body leaning in close to his mother and his head resting comfortably on her shoulder. Clearly the child could walk and stand without help, but Mrs. Bates preferred to hold him close. Probably so he wouldn't wander off like kids do.

The older boy was seemingly ignored by his mother altogether. He was looking over the wanted pictures on the bulletin board with great interest. No doubt enraptured by the composite sketches of dangerous criminals. It struck Alex how different the boys were. The younger child looked well cared for. His hair was dry and he was in matching pajamas with little house shoes to keep him warm. The older boy had gotten caught in the sudden rain when coming inside the building. His blond hair was wet and his clothes, not suitable for this climate, were spotted from the rain. At this time of night, the police station was run by a skeletal staff. Normally it was the weekly DWI or the predictable domestic disturbances that kept them all busy. None of them were used to this visitor and her endless questions.

Alex took it upon himself to intervene and spare Clarice from becoming too flustered. She wasn't that much older than he was, but seemed to choose the wardrobe, glasses and social habits of an eighty year old woman. Right down to her bi-weekly bingo and knitting hobby.

Alex walked around the office area and came into the waiting room. Norma Bates' older child looking up at him curiously.

"Give me the Sheriff's number, I'll call him." Norma Bates insisted.

"Ma'am, it's past midnight." Clarice sighed. "We don't give out personal information like that anyway."

"Mrs. Bates?" Romero interrupted.

His hand subconsciously came within an inch of her lower back before he pulled away. It felt like a natural thing to do when she stood so close to him. His body wanting to fit neatly next to this stranger who's husband he just arrested. Alex shook the idea from his mind and cleared his throat.

She turned to him, and he was startled again by her eyes. It wasn't just her eyes this time, but her flawless skin, soft lips and slight figure. Alex took a second, just one, to drink in her looks. She wasn't even thirty yet. He was sure she couldn't have been that many years younger than himself. She looked tired though and ready to be angry and hurt. Her hair was damp from the rain, no doubt she had been trying to keep her youngest child dry, but it didn't detract from the fact that she cut a very elegant picture. What was a woman like this doing married to a man like Sam Bates? It didn't fit. The old car, the threadbare clothes, the two children who she must have had quite young to still look as good as she did.

Her features looked like she belonged in some sorority house at prestigious college. Or as the always smiling wife of some elected official. She didn't go with the life Alex had gleamed off Sam Bates.

"Mrs. Bates, why don't you have a seat in the waiting room?" Alex suggested tactfully. "There's a couch and a payphone in there. You can try to call someone or make some arrangements for yourself and the boys."

Alex sensed she was about to tell him off and decided to beat her to it. He was eager to avoid her snapping at him. For such an attractive woman, she seemed angry at the world.

"As soon as I'm done with the report, I'll be in to talk to you about your husband." he promised quickly. "I'll have more answers for you soon."

She looked at him with suspicion, but finally glanced over to the lonely waiting area with a big comfortable couch.

Romero shrugged.

"The couch is comfortable. At least the boys can try and get some rest. I'm sure they're tired." he offered.

He didn't misinterpret the annoyed look she gave him. There was no mistaking the fact that she didn't appreciate him telling her how to be a parent.

Back at his desk, with a clear view of the waiting room, Alex tried not to look back at the three of them. Graceland was still in her dog bed, and had her head up. Wondering what her partner was looking at with such interest when he was normally occupied by typing. Romero found himself ignoring the computer keyboard and instead, watching this woman tend to her sons. She was putting the youngest down to sleep on the couch. The oldest looking at her curiously before she reached out and took his little hand. Her face was calm, but clearly worried. No doubt she was telling her oldest that they were going to be fine. Eventually, she helped the oldest boy lay down on the couch next to his little brother.

Alex felt something inside him shift again when he saw this woman run a hand over her youngest child's hair. She was perched on the edge of the couch and talking to them. Her mannerisms just like the caring mother putting children to bed in an old movie.

Romero remembered how his own mother used to do that. How she would tuck him in bed at night. Her hands smoothing down his unruly hair. Maybe it was something all mothers did to their children. A primal instinct that couldn't be learned.

Alex looked away from them and started on the arrest report.

~ Romero didn't mind the paper work. He kept his sentences short and to the fact. He never embellished and didn't have to think too long to remember what had happened. He had never been plagued with guilt for an arrest. He never question if it was justified. Sam Bates had been about to hit him, Alex was well within the law to arrest him. The fact there was a bench warrant made it even sweeter. Romero read over the cause of the warrant and wasn't surprised.

Sam Bates had a long history with the police.

A noise from close by brought Alex back to focus on his surroundings. He looked up from the online report for Sam Bates to see the oldest child of Mrs. Bates looking at him. Alex glanced into the waiting area for the boy's mother, and saw she had nodded off on the chair next to the couch. Her face looking especially peaceful just now.

Alex looked back at the forgotten boy and tried to think of something to say.

"Busy night." he said lamely. The boy said nothing and looked at Graceland.

The police dog, always non aggressive with children, picked her head up and waited for Alex to give a command that she could interact with the child.

"Does he bite?" the little boy asked nervously.

Alex tried not to smile when he glanced back at the well trained attack dog.  
"She doesn't bite kids." he said honestly.

"Just the bad guys?" the boy asked. His eyes were wide, but he didn't seem afraid.  
"That's right." Alex nodded. "She's trained to only attack when ordered to."

"She's a girl dog?"

Alex nodded.  
"She sure is. Her name is Graceland." he told him.  
"That a weird name."

"My mother was an Elvis fan." Romero explained with an amused grin. The little boy didn't seem to understand but looked appreciatively at the German Shepard in her special K-9 vest.

"Can I pet her?" the boy asked hopefully.

Alex was hesitant to let the little boy interact with Graceland. There was always the off chance the dog would be spooked by the small child and feel defensive.

"You're going to have to be careful and do what I say." Romero said after some thought.

The child nodded eagerly.

"Okay, stand up strait and keep your hands down." Alex said. The little boy complying quickly. "Let her come to you and determine you're not a threat."

Alex nodded to Graceland and the dog happily jumped from her bed next to his desk.

She paused before approaching the child and looked at Alex for a cue on what to do next.  
"Friendly." Alex said in a calm voice. Like a spell had been broken, Graceland started to wag her tail and came closer to the boy. Her muzzle reaching out to his hand.  
"Okay, now you can pet her." Alex said.

Slowly, the child extended a hand to stroke Graceland's head. The dog, wanting more affection, moved closer.

"Heel." Alex ordered and she primly sat down in front of the boy.

"How does she know what to do?" the child asked.

"Because I trained her." Romero explained.

"Does she always do what you say?"

"Always." Alex nodded.

"How?"

The child's face looked perplexed that such a thing was possible.

"All dogs want to be in a pack." Alex explained in words a child his age would understand. "They want to be in a group of other dogs. Dogs who live with people still want to be in a pack, but they look at humans as apart of their pack."

The little boy looked back at Graceland. His hand clumsily petting her neck.

"Dogs always look for a leader. They want that pack leader to be dominant and to be the boss. The Alpha. The Alpha makes sure the pack is fed and protected. Dogs always do what the pack leader tells them to." Romero explained.

"So she listens to you because you're her leader?" the boy asked.

Alex was a little surprised the child had gotten the concept on the first try. He'd known many adults who didn't understand.

"That's right."

"What if she doesn't do what you say?"

"She always follows orders from me. I'm the pack leader." Romero reminded him.

The child turned his attention to Alex's desk. Romero followed the boy's gaze from his coffee mug to the cup of pens and pencils, to the stapler. He was a little sadden to realize he had nothing to distract a child of this age aside from the dog. Graceland was the only thing that made him interesting. Alex was becoming a very boring adult.

"Afraid I don't get many visitors your age." Romero admitted awkwardly. The boy didn't move, but his eyes were still looking for something that might be appealing..

"Sometimes the Sheriff and I take the boat out and go fishing." Alex realized.

The boy looked impressed.

"We do a lot of that here. See?" the deputy said with an easy smile on the subject of his favorite hobby. He opened a desk drawer and took out an envelope of photos from his last fishing trip with Tom.

Sheriff Tom Wilson was a great fisherman and often wanted Alex to join him. The two of them never talked work, or even about anything at all. Fishing for them was like a religion and was always done in a meditative silence. It was enough, in Alex's mind that the Sheriff liked and respected him to invite him on these day trips. Words weren't needed.

"Ten pound catch last year. I won an award." Alex said and showed the boy the impressive catch. Alex and Sheriff Wilson were all smiles as they held up the large fish for the camera. Graceland, naturally, sitting between the two men and not wanting to miss out on having her picture taken.

"You eat them?" the boy asked skeptically. His little face pulling into a look of disgust.

"Of course." Alex laughed. "You don't like fish?"

The boy shook his head.

"Is the boat big?" the child asked.

"It sure is." Alex nodded. "I've been fishing since I was your age. All the boys have their dad's take them out on the water to learn."

Alex smiled, but he remembered those fishing trips a little too well. How his father never had time to take him out on the bay with the other boys he grew up with. How Bob Paris would always consider his presence on his family's boat more of a charity case. How Alex was the only one without his dad there to see him catch anything.

"Do you take your little boy on the boat?"

Alex was about to explain that he didn't even have a girlfriend let alone a wife or son. He would have said something, but it would have sounded slightly pathetic.

"We take Graceland out." Romero pointed to the photogenic dog who looked like she was smiling for the camera.

The little boy grinned happily and looked back at Graceland.

"Are you sure she won't bite me?" he asked worriedly. The police dog looking perfectly harmless right now.  
"No." Alex said. "She'll **never** bite you because I will **never** tell her to."

The little boy looked skeptical. The German Shepard did have impressive teeth which would surely hurt if provoked.  
"Hey." Romero nodded to the child. "I'm the pack leader. Remember? She only obeys the pack leader."

The little boy nodded when suddenly, Graceland gave a frightened start and turned around to go back to the safety of her bed.

Mrs. Bates had appeared out of nowhere. Her face livid that her son had wandered away.

"Dylan! Get away from that dog! It's dangerous! It's going to attack you! Go back on the couch next to Norman and look after him." she hissed. Her face worried and angry again.

Alex turned in his chair to see the police dog had her attention on Mrs. Bates now. Not in an aggressive way, but clearly Graceland was observing the awesome force that was this woman.

"Down." Alex said in a stern voice to the dog. The last thing he needed was Graceland becoming upset and barking at Mrs. Bates and her children. Or worse, thinking Mrs. Bates was the Alpha.

"But the boat." The boy, Dylan, pleaded.

"It's okay, son." Alex said gently. "We can talk fishing later."

Dylan looked bitterly at his mother before leaving them. Romero glanced over at Mrs. Bates. She was glaring at her oldest son and making sure he joined his younger brother on the couch to try and sleep.

"Norman?" Alex asked.

Mrs. Bates snapped her head back at him. Her expression tense.

"What about him?" she asked quickly.

Alex leaned back in his chair. Making sure he was between Mrs. Bates and the dog. He shrugged and tried to sound casual.

"Your son's name. Norman… and Norma." he said. It was an odd, old fashion choice of names for the both of them. He expected a woman with the name Norma to be an elderly grandmother. Not someone as young and attractive as she was.

"What about it?" Mrs. Bates asked. Her tone slightly hurt by him questioning her naming practice.

"It's just… unusual." Alex admitted feeling awkward again.

He waited for her to become offended, but she seemed indifferent. Maybe she had had this argument too often to be upset anymore.

"Boys are named after their father's all the time." she said.

Alex was about to suggest that naming her son Norman would certainly teach him to fight, but thought better of it. He wasn't vicious enough to be hurtful for no reason.

Like Graceland, Deputy Alex Romero only bit when provoked.

"So what was the bench warrant for?" she asked.

Alex nodded to a little chair beside his desk and she sat down. Her knees almost touching his leg in the cramped space. He took the picture he had been showing her son and put it back in the drawer. He made sure he didn't look her in the eyes longer than he needed to. He found himself liking her eyes far too much.

"Mrs. Bates." he started to say.

"Norma." she corrected angrily. "Please, just be honest with me."

"Norma." he tried again. "Sam was arrested two weeks ago at a place called Ta-Ta's. There had been some sort of fight. He was scheduled to appear in court two days ago and he didn't show. His bond was revoked and a bench warrant was issued."

It wasn't easy to say and when Alex finally turned to look her in the eyes, he saw they had almost changed color. The brightness of them was gone, and they were now ice cold. The shade of blue struck him as familiar, but he couldn't place where. Her face and jawline were set hard and her skin flushed to an attractive pink. Even in anger, she was strikingly beautiful.

"He was arrested at a strip club?" she whispered.

Alex nodded.

"I know this isn't easy to hear." he admitted sadly.

She turned away from him and he took the opportunity to glance at her figure. His eyes stealing a sinful peek at well shaped legs before reaching the hem of her modest dress. It was a pale blue fabric that would have been fine for the heat of Arizona, but was poor protection from the cold spring of Oregon.

"Mrs. Ba-, Norma." Alex was surprised to find himself stuttering slightly. "Is there anyone we can call for you? Maybe arrange a flight back home?"

She shook her head.

"No. There's no one." she said sadly. "Sam obviously owes people money back home. We can't go back."

Her body seemed to have deflated. All that fire was slowly dying away. She looked ready to pass out. Alex instinctively reached out and took hold of her arm when she swayed in her seat.

"I'm alright." she whispered.

She looked back at him and he saw tears in her eyes. The blue was like the evening sky after a big storm had passed. When the air was so clean and perfect, it reminded Alex of what true beauty was.

"Are you sure?" she asked hopefully. Her slight body crumpling. "Maybe it was a mistake. Another Sam Bates?"

Alex released her arm and turned back to his computer, He punched in Sam's name and up came his mug shot and full arrest record.

It was better that Norma know the truth. A bitter pill is best swallowed quickly.

"He's going back to Arizona?" she asked.

Romero nodded.

"We'll do prisoner transport." he said.

She looked away from him and Alex saw a red mark seared on her face. It was a recent welt that would become a bruise. Romero didn't have to ask what had caused it.

"I saw tha- there was a lot of complaints about… that the police, were called to your former residence. A few times over the past year." Alex managed to get out. His voice betraying him with that stutter he normally never got.

Norma Bates nodded and refused to look at him. She looked so pale and fragile at that moment. Like her whole world was breaking.

"He was abusive?" Alex asked gently. "Did he ever hurt the boys?"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Norma said. Her voice was close to tears but she looked too exhausted to cry.

Alex leaned away from her. He had wanted her to know the truth. He had wanted her to know just what kind of man Sam Bates truly was. He didn't want her to be fooled into staying with someone who would hurt her. But Alex sensed that he had pushed too far. That she was about to break apart from the strain.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

~ Alex wasn't sure why he felt so guilty. No one ever made him feel guilty for anything. He was a cop, he had a job to do and he heard a thousand sad stories a thousand times from the same people who should know he didn't care.

Then, there was Norma Bates.

That look of devastation cast a shadow across her face. It was a look of defeat that was all too familiar to him. It was the same look his mother had just before that awful summer day.

That realization pricked him hard enough to draw blood. He felt sorry for her and not just because she was in an abusive marriage or because of her small children. He'd developed a callous to situations like hers. He'd seen women with her story before. Blind to the fact that they were treated so poorly. Too scared to do anything alone so they tolerated the abuse infidelity if it meant some level of security. All so they could keep the man who hurt them.

Norma Bates didn't seem to fit with the typical abused wife. She seemed strong and capable. She was caring towards her children and there was no arrest record; Alex had checked. Norma was young enough to easily start over. Even with two children to support, she'd have no trouble getting by in the world. Women as attractive as her had an easier time, Romero noticed. Soon enough, if she divorced Sam, she'd find someone. Some good natured suburban man who would happily provide for her and be a decent step father to her children. A woman like that didn't stay single for long.

Alex pushed the idea of Norma Bates as a pampered wife out of his head. It had already been a long night with too many complications.

"Do you and the boys have place to stay tonight?" he asked.

Norma took a deep breath and seemed to come back to reality.  
"Um…" she looked back at him like she didn't understand the question.

"We did intake on Sam." Alex told her sadly. "There was no cash in his wallet."

Norma let out a hollow laugh. Her eyes filling up with tears.  
"Why would their be?" she said sarcastically.

"I have a buddy of mine. He owes me a favor. He runs a decent motel on the outside of town. It's the off season, so I'm sure he'll give you a room for a few days until you decide what to do." Alex said gently. He was punishing himself right now. He knew better than to play white knight. He should have made a phone call to social services an hour ago, but in this town, the whole department was kept afloat by one woman. Alex would get an earful if he woke her up this late.

Norma looked at him questioningly.

"No, that's okay." she said. Her voice was flat and without emotion.

"Why?" Alex asked. "Were you and the boys planning on sleeping in the car? You know it's going to rain everyday for the next week don't you?"

Norma looked annoyed. Her eyes sparking like fireworks just now. Still, it was better than that hopelessness that threatened to drown her. She shook her head and let out a sigh.

"We really don't have the money for a room." she said in an embarrassed whisper. Her face flushing slightly.

"Well, that's why you're in luck. I busted this kid last week for smoking pot and I let him go. His dad was an old school friend of mine and he runs the motel." Alex explained.

Norma looked at him questioningly. Her eyes skeptical.

"Come on, Mrs. Bates, it's just for a few nights. Until we can figure out what to do." he explained. Romero was feeling frustrated that his attempts to be heroic was met with indecision.

Alex looked around the nearly empty police station. He and Norma were in no danger of being overheard except by Graceland.

"Let me help you." he said gently.

~ Apparently the rain never stopped in this town. Norma had followed Deputy Romero's SUV through the darkened little community to a large motel on the other side of town. She waited in the run down Buick and watched him go inside, talk to the office manger and come out with a set of keys.

"It's off season. Not a lot of tourists coming in. It's your's till the end of the week. No charge." the Deputy explained when she parked the Buick outside of room 1. Norma hurried out of the car and gratefully took the room key from him.

She nodded but couldn't make her voice work. She looked back at him, trying to express relief only to find him looking at her as if searching for more flaws. His eyes roaming over her when he thought she wasn't looking or didn't notice. He should be feeling smug for helping the poor desperate woman and her two children. Instead, he looked slightly miserable.

"Thank you." she said slowly. She meant it to. Meant it more than she had ever meant those words before.

"Mrs. Bates, there's going to be a social worker coming to see you tomorrow morning." the Deputy explained carefully.

The rain was so hard she almost didn't hear him.

"What? Why?" Norma barked. The last thing she wanted was some government worker judging her and her sons. Probably asking questions that were no one's business. She'd didn't have much experience with social workers. All she knew was that they take children away and put them in foster homes.

"Because of everything you told me tonight." the deputy said. His face was apologetic but he refused to back down. "Your situation isn't good, Mrs. Bates. There are small children to think of."

Norma immediately thought of this social worker coming for her boys. Taking both of them away and into some sort of hellish foster home. That she would have to hire a lawyer to get them back. Her blood boiled at the idea. How dare the cop call social services. She had trusted him and she'd never abused her sons.

"Her name is Sybil Lawson and she'll help you either get back to Arizona or come up with a plan for you and the boys." the Deputy continued. "She's very good at keeping families together you need to trust me on this. The woman runs the entire department on her own."

"My boys belong with me. Not in a foster home." Norma said bitterly. The sound of the heavy rain meant she had to shout at Deputy Romero.

The Deputy shook his head.

"It won't come to that. What happened tonight wasn't your fault. They only take kids away if there is clear signs of neglect and no one is available to take care of them." he assured her.

Norma looked back at the old Buick where she'd told the boys to wait for her. Dylan was in the front seat and watching the both of them. He didn't seem angry or upset which was new for him. His face was actually calm for once. Norman was mercifully asleep in his booster seat again. Tonight's troubles not able to touch him because of his age.

Deputy Romero followed her gaze. Norma sensed him move slightly to stand closer to her. Both of them facing the Buick and Dylan's appraising glare.

"Your oldest is a good kid." Romero said at last. It was small talk, she knew that, but he sounded sincere.

"Dylan." she said. "I hope he's going to be a good kid."

"I'll come by tomorrow evening and check on you." The Deputy said awkwardly. "On all of you." he quickly corrected.

Norma turned to him, but he wasn't looking at her. He seemed to be focused on something far off in the distance. Avoiding eye contact.

"If you want. Make sure everything is okay." he added.

"Alright." she said.

The Deputy nodded.

"You need to get the kids to bed." he ordered and stepped out of the protective breezeway and back to his SUV.

Norma took a moment to let her thoughts settle. She watched the tail lights of Deputy Romero's SUV flash as he left the parking lot. She was sorry to see them fade away in the rain.

~ "I'm hungry." Dylan moaned after Norma had given her youngest his bath.

Norman was already asleep in one of the two queen size beds. Her oldest child avoiding bath time at all costs.

"I'll make you a peanut butter sandwich while you're in the tub." she whispered to him. "But right now it's bath time."

She pulled his shirt off and was sad to discover he had gotten soaked from all the rain. If she had been a better mother, Dylan would have stayed dry tonight.

She kissed the top of his head and felt how soft his hair was. Something so familiar from her childhood. Hair just like this. A face just like this. She so rarely gave Dylan any affection that her oldest child looked up at her in surprise.

"Are we going to go fishing?" Dylan asked.

Norma laughed for the first time in weeks. The question caught her off guard completely.

"Fishing?" she asked "Where did that come from?"

"That police man. He goes fishing all the time." Dylan explained.

Norma finished running the bath water for him.

"I bet he does." she agreed with a smile.

"On a boat. The dads here… they all take their boys out on boats all the time." Dylan told her excitedly.

Norma felt a pain of real pity for her oldest. Sam never cared to be a step father to him and his real dad wasn't terribly interested in the boy either. She knew Dylan was jealous of other little boys with fathers who did things with them. Dylan was always interested in that strange world of masculine culture. Her son was so eager to join the ranks of men. He was only five and already interested in car repair, hunting and sports. A language she could never speak and translate for him as just a mother.

"That sounds fun." she admitted.

"Yeah. I think it would be fun." Dylan agreed.

Her oldest kept his thoughts to himself for the rest of bath time. When he got out Norma helped him change, and fed him a sandwich. When she put him to bed beside Norman, he hugged her before being tucked in. Another show of affection from him she wasn't used to.

"Is Sam coming back?" he asked in a worried whisper.

Norma bit her lip.

"No. Not this time." she said softly. Her voice low so that Norman wouldn't wake up.

"I'm glad." Dylan admitted.

"Me to." she told him.

"Are we going to live here?" he asked.

"Not forever." she promised. "A few days."

"Then what?" he asked.

Maybe it was the sudden affection from her oldest. Maybe it was the kindness of Deputy Romero, or just Sam being gone. Maybe it was just knowing she was safe indoors with all this rain.

"I'm going to get us a job in the morning, so we can get our own place." she told him confidently. "Before you start kindergarten." She promised.

"We're not going back to Arizona?" Dylan asked.

Norma shook her head.

"No." she smiled.

"We can take Norman fishing." Dylan offered helpfully. "That police man will show us how."

"Honey, I doubt we'll ever see him again." she laughed but kissed him on the forehead. "But we're going to be just fine as long as we're all together. As long as we're together nothing bad can ever happen."

~ Dylan was asleep soon and Norma took a long, hot bath. It felt good to be in emerged in the warm water when she'd been so wet and cold all night. Her body was relaxing, but her mind was hard at work.

 _'If that Deputy is right, the social worker can help me find a job. Maybe ever free child care. That's what's really important right now._ ' she mused.

She let herself soak deeper into the hot water.

' _A nice job that's respectable and one where I can still take care of the boys. We can get our own place. We don't need much. Never did._ ' she decided.

She did some quick math in her head. She would need to have a decent downpayment for an apartment when her time was up here. She wasn't sure how she was going to save up enough for first and last month rent by the end of the week. Let alone things like getting the power on. How could she save that much and keep them going in just a week?

' _Don't think about it now_.' she told herself. ' _Too many awful things have happened and you're too tired to work this out. In the morning, things will be better._ ' she told herself.

It seemed like good advice and she got out of the tub, dried off and dressed for bed. It was heaven to sleep in a real bed again. She loved it even more without Sam's large, smelly body next to her. She watched her boys sleeping and felt contentment wash over her.

"It will be better, boys." she whispered into the darkness. "It was bad tonight, but it's not forever."


	5. Chapter 5

5.

~ Sybil Lawson turned out to be a petite, sour looking woman in her late sixties who chained smoked and wore large bake light framed glasses from the seventies. Norma almost started laughing when she answered the motel room door the next morning. She wasn't expecting to see such an odd little woman. She wasn't sure what to expect in a social worker, but it wasn't this.

It was soon apparent that Sybil Lawson, despite her appearance, wasn't comical at all. She had large, intelligent eyes behind the out of date glasses. When she spoke, it was always very direct and honest. Norma sensed right away that Sybil Lawson wasn't to be messed with, lied to or disappointed.

There was so much energy wrapped up in that small, aging body that one had to wonder what she'd been like as a younger woman.

"Little Bear called me this morning and told me what happened." Sybil grumbled as a way of greeting. "So here I am. Are you Norma Bates?"

Norma looked her new social worker up and down, and was slightly perplexed by her general appearance. Sybil wore an out of fashion gray blazer and matching pencil skirt with a ruffled collar and costume jewelry pearls. Norma could tell the old woman's face didn't seem judgmental. Her expression open and ready to listen. Maybe this social worker wouldn't take the boys away.

"Yes. I'm Norma Bates." she said at last.

"I'm Sybil Lawson." she said and waved for Norma to join her on the empty motel porch. The older woman promptly started smoking. Pulling out a well used pocket book that held her cigarettes and silver lighter. She offered Norma one and was refused. Norma had never smoked and had no intention to start now.

"Good for you, Dear. Don't ever start smoking. It's bad for the skin. Look at me. I smoke a pack a day and it's been hell on my complexion. I'm only forty years old."

Norma let out a laugh before she could stop herself. Before she could remind herself that this woman was here to help her or hurt her as she saw fit. She looked at the older woman who didn't seem at all upset Norma had laughed. Maybe it had been a long running joke that she used to put people at ease.

"Lets talk a little out here so the boys won't hear. Best to never involve kids in adult problems." Sybil said getting down to business.

Norma nodded, peeked in at Dylan and Norman watching cartoons in the motel room, and closed the door behind her. It had stopped raining and the morning air smelled clean, but heavy with still more rain to come. The two women sat on the nearby porch chairs to talk about Norma's situation.

"Now, Alex told me your husband was arrested last night and he's being extradited back to Arizona where the original arrest happened." Sybil said after taking a long drag off her cigarette. She opened her weathered briefcase and fished out a legal pad and pen.

"Um… who is Alex?" Norma asked.

Sybil looked at her in surprise before smiling with nicotine stained teeth.

"Deputy Alex Romero, dear." she explained gently. "He's the Grumpy Gus who arrested your husband last night. All us old timers around here just call him Little Bear. His father used to be the Sheriff and he was the Big Bear. Alex is his son and so that made him Little Bear."

Norma nodded.

"I see. Yes, of course." she said quickly. She had never had a nickname growing up. It must have been comforting to have a community know your family, know your history well enough to give you a nick name. She wondered why Deputy Romero had never mentioned his father had been the former Sheriff.

"Now, I understand you have safe lodging for the next few days for you and the boys. What I need to know is what your plans are. Do you plan to take yourself and the boys back to Arizona to be with your husband?" Sybil asked.

Norma flushed. She knew Miss Lawson meant well, but it felt like judgmental when she asked if she planned to return to the man who had obviously been so bad for her. Sybil Lawson was probably used to dealing with women like her a dozen times a week. Women who refused to leave their abusers. Norma was no better, she knew that. But it felt different this time. She'd slept better last night than she had since before Norman was born. The knowledge that Sam was gone had given them some peace and calmness. She wasn't going back to the chaos of life with Sam Bates.

"No. We're not going back to Arizona." Norma said at last.

Sybil nodded and took another drag.

"Do you have any family nearby? Any friends who can offer some kind of support?" the social worker asked. The older woman was writing in short hand on her note pad. Her large glasses making her look almost bug like.

"No." Norma said awkwardly.

"No family? No brothers or sisters? Are your parents able to help you?" Sybil asked.

Norma shook her head.

"I haven't seen my parents since before my oldest son was born." she explained feebly. She felt a sharp pain in her heart to think about her parents.

"No chance they would want to help you?" Sybil asked gently. "Meet their grandsons?"

Norma shook her head and looked away. She decided not to lie to Sybil about her parents. But not tell the whole truth either. Normally, she would spin elaborate fictions about her family. How her mother maybe liked to knit and her father worked at a lumber mill. How they were poor but happy and never the nightmare her childhood really was.

"My dad… he was pretty violent and my mother was… well she was sick a lot." she explained. "Cancer." she added hastily.

In truth Norma never knew what was wrong with her mother. What would explain the deep, dark moods she would go into. Moods that meant she would sleep all day and not even care if her children had eaten.

"I understand." Sybil said and made a little note.

"If I thought they could help me, I would have gone to them years ago." Norma said quickly.

Sybil nodded but said nothing. Her pen scratching away. Norma felt anxious in the middle of the silence. Her social worker looking over notes and police records of Sam's arrest.

"Mrs. Bates, I've pulled your records before I came here. I see you've never applied for any kind of public assistance." Sybil said at last.

Norma shook her head.

"No food stamps, no housing assistance, nothing?" Sybil asked in disbelief.

"No. Sam wouldn't have liked that and I never felt we were that bad off." Norma explained. She couldn't tell this woman she was always too proud to apply for welfare. That she didn't trust the system to help her because her parents raised her to distrust the government in general.

"Well, you're going to have to start now. I can push through your application for food subsides and emergency housing. It's off season here in White Pine Bay so I should be able to negotiate the rent price. It's best if I do that." Sybil added cooly. "I can negotiate better than anyone."

"An apartment?" Norma questioned. Sybil pulled down her bake light glasses and looked at Norma skeptically.

"I didn't misunderstand you, did I?" she asked. "You want to stay here in White Pine Bay, right?"

"Yes." Norma said quickly. "I mean, I guess we didn't have a plan when… when we came here."

"You'll need to work at least part time in order to keep your benefits. I know the children are young, but there is such a horrible stigma attached to welfare mothers. Most unfair. The government wants you to be employed to avoid the appearance of a lazy do nothing. I can find you something here in town. We can get the oldest child into a day program and the youngest child will have to go to the local infant care while your at work." Sybil explained.

"I don't think I can afford day care and rent." Norma confessed sadly.

Sybil finished her cigarette and lit another one.

"Mrs. Bates, that is where the government aide comes in. As long as you're holding down a job, taking care of your minor children and staying out of jail yourself, you qualify for free daycare, food stamps and rent subsidies."

"I can work." Norma argued. "I don't want to be on welfare."

Sybil closed her notebook and let out a long sigh.

"Mrs. Bates." she said calmly. "You're living in a motel room with your two boys. You told Deputy Romero you have no money. You've already told me you have no support system in place and you're alone. You **DO** need welfare and I suggest you use it. Otherwise, you'll be in much worse shape than you are now."

Norma felt her jaw tighten with frustration and embarrassment. Sybil opened her notebook again and looked over Norma's case.

"First order of business is to find a job. Did you finish high school?"

"Yes." Norma said numbly. "I had to finish at another school and a year late because my son Dylan was born. But I did graduate."

"What work experience do you have?" Sybil asked.

Norma felt suddenly ashamed for thinking she was too good for public assistance. She had no job skills, little education and nothing to protect herself of her children. She swallowed hard.

"House work. I cleaned house and… I cooked. I can sew. i used to make my own clothes in high school. I can cook just about anything. I even used to make wedding cakes for people when we needed extra money." she said feebly.

"Wedding cakes?" Sybil asked. "What else can you cook?"

"I can make anything in a recipe book." Norma said eagerly. "It's one of those things I'm really good at. It's never been hard for me. But I've never done it professionally before."

Sybil nodded.

"Well, I have a friend of mine who runs a catering company. She is always in desperate need of someone who can work a kitchen. She does a lot of weddings to and I'm sure if you can make a decent wedding cake, it will increase her business. She's the only one in town who does any catering and the money is pretty good. If you're half as good as you say, she'll take you on full time." Sybil said.

Norma was shocked. She'd never thought it would be this easy to find a job. She expected to have to go on a series of interviews and be rejected half a dozen times before she found something.

"Really?" she asked.

Sybil nodded.

"Does your car work? Can you make it to this job on time if I arrange it?" she asked

"Yes." Norma said eagerly. "I can. I will. What about the boys? If I'm at work, who's going to look after them?"

"I'll put in a call to the daycare and activity groups they have around here. The boys will be taken care of until I get the right paper work. We'll get them enrolled tomorrow and then worry about it later." Sybil explained. "The red school house is surprisingly lenient with that kind of thing and they always owe me a favor or two."

"And um… it won't cost me too much?" Norma asked. "For the daycare?"

"I doubt if it will cost you anything, Mrs. Bates." Sybil told her. "The activities program is the brain child of our new mayor. It's free to all kids. They do sports and things like that to keep kids off drugs. In fact, one of our Deputies, Zack Shelby, coaches little league and baseball season is coming up. You're oldest will fit right in."

Norma felt the pressure in her body ease a little. Maybe things would be alright after all.

"Now, I just need to make sure your husband isn't going to come back." Sybil said sternly. Her notebook closed again and she glared at Norma. "I'm not about to do all of this for you if some asshole is going to come back into your life and fuck it all up."

Norma was taken back by her language.

"See, I've seen all of this before. I've done all this before. A nice looking lady with nice well tended children. Married to a horrible man who beats her and she's too afraid to leave." Sybil went on.

"Sam didn't beat me." Norma said quickly. Sybil pointed a heavily ringed finger at the younger woman's cheek. Norma had forgotten about the bruise that had bloomed on her face overnight. She quickly covered it with her hand.

"Alex called me this morning asking me to personally get involved because he knows that, unlike the rest of the social services department, this old bitch gets shit done. I'm not lifting a finger if you're going to flake on me, Norma Bates. If you're not going to try and make a better life for yourself and the boys. If I catch one sniff of your husband here I'll drop all your claims and let you go back to him."

Norma took a deep breath. She hated asking for help but saw no other way.

"Miss Lawson, I understand. I was actually hoping you could help me start on the paperwork for a divorce." she said sadly.

Sybil eyed her skeptically and Norma felt her face turn red.

"I can do that." the older woman said. "Won't cost you anything either. I'll even have the judge fast track it on account of Sam's arrest and Deputy Romero's statement of spousal abuse."

"Statement?" Norma asked.

"Little Bear faxed the Arizona court this morning stating that he believes Sam Bates is a danger to you and your children. A document like that is helpful if you want to get full custody of the children." Sybil explained.

Norma nodded and felt oddly grateful to Deputy Romero.

"That's good." she breathed.

"Alright." Sybil said. "Let me get the rest of your information and the boys to. I'll need your room's phone number and I'll call you when everything is set up. If this old hag is still worth her salt, you'll have a place in a few days and a job to go to in the morning."

After half an hour of giving her social security numbers and medical information, Sybil Lawson finally seemed satisfied. Norma stood when the old lady did.

"Thank you." she said. "Thank you, from the bottom of my heart."

~ Alex was asleep when his home phone rang for attention.

' _Gotta remember to unplug it when I get off the night shift._ ' he thought and rolled over to answer.

Everyone knew not to call a man who worked nights. He had friends, but not ones who were close enough to just call him at home. White Pine Bay was small so that he saw people eventually.

Graceland looked up at him curiously from her dog bed on the floor.

"Hello?" Alex said in a tired voice.

"Little Bear." Sybil's voice was still like sandpaper from all her smoking. "Did I wake you up?"

"Yes." Alex groaned.

"Good, I'm glad." Sybil snapped. "I saw the lady you called me about."

Alex opened his eyes and sat up in bed. Graceland taking the cue that it was okay to be awake and quickly jumped into his bed anticipating going for a run.

"And?" he asked brushing off the dog's affections.

"Norma Bates has elected to stay in White Pine Bay. I've already found her a job at Hilary's catering company. She starts tomorrow and the boys are signed up for daycare and the little league program that pretty boy Shelby coaches." she explained.

"What? Sybil that's amazing!" Alex said and sat out of bed. "You really are a miracle worker."

"What's a miracle, Alex is that I hear you paid for this lady to stay in that motel for the rest of the week. She thinks a friend of yours is just doing you a favor letting her and the boys stay, but I spoke to the manager before I met her. You rolled in and played white knight. That's not like you, Little Bear." Sybil said smartly.

Alex rolled his eyes. Sybil was from another generation. The people who remembered the man his father used to be. When Alex was still very young and his father was still a decent man. The Big Bear of White Pine Bay and Alex was his cub.

Alex blinked at the memory of how he looked up to his father as a young child. How, when people called him 'Little Bear', he always thought of it as the compliment it was.

How cruel time was to distort the things he loved most.

"I wish you wouldn't call me that, Sybil." Alex said sadly.

"Well, I wish I had the tits and ass of a twenty year old stripper. Might make myself some decent money for a change." Sybil said gruffly. "We all have our problems, Alex."

Romero hung his head slightly. He'd always liked Sybil's honesty.

"I doubt you'd make much money as a striper." He teased.

"You know you'd be my best customer." Sybil snapped. "Answer the question, Little Bear. Why'd you pay for that woman's motel room?"

Alex had to think of an answer. He could lie very well, but Sybil had known him for his whole life and had know his parents all their lives to.

"I arrested her husband in front of her and her kids. I..it was the least I could do. I felt bad." he said feebly. His voice wanting to stutter slightly again.

"Well, Sam Bates won't be her husband for too much longer." Sybil said quickly. "She's asked I fast track divorce papers so she can be free of him."

Alex felt his spirits lighten at this news.

"Really?" he asked.

"Ah, see I thought that would interest you, Little Bear. You can't fool me." Sybil said harshly.

"I don't know what you mean." Alex said.

"I saw this lady." Sybil told him knowingly. "She's very attractive. She carries herself very well and has some class. You can't tell me you didn't appreciate that. I know what kind of girl you like."

"I'm- I'm not… interested in dating a woman with two kids, Sybil." Alex said with a stutter again.

"You tell yourself whatever you need to, Alex." she said. "I've never seen you come to anyone's rescue before. Not like this. It was a nice surprise to find you you're not made of stone after all."

Alex was about to say something when she made a made a hasty goodbye and he heard the phone line click off.

He was still sitting on the edge of his bed holding the receiver in one hand. Relief was washing over him to know that Norma Bates was going to stay here in town. That she would be single very soon to. He might even see her from time to time. If she was going to be working for the local catering company, he might see her everyday. It was right across the street from the Sheriff's station.

Alex shook his head and hung up the phone. He wasn't a white knight like Sybil accused him of being. He certainly wasn't looking to get involved with a single mother either.

In a few days, he would forget all about Norma Bates.

 **I know some of you want a 'new' story. I am hearing you. If re-editing didn't take so much time, I would do it. Who knows? I might post a one off just for the fun of it.**


	6. Chapter 6

6.

~ It was good omen to finally see the sun come out. The rain had stopped long enough for the town to dry out a little. Norma had to admit to herself that with all the rain, stress, and drama from Sam getting arrested, she had been feeling depressed.

She'd gotten a phone call from Sybil a few hours after they'd met and the older woman told her to drop Norman off at a daycare place called 'The School House'.

"Don't worry. It's taken care of until your benefits kick in, Mrs. Bates." Sybil had told her.  
"I'm not worried about that." Norma confessed. She looked at Norman and Dylan. Her boys had been raised never to complain about anything, but they were growing bored in the motel room with all the rain outside.

"I've just, well I've never had them in daycare before. I've always looked after them myself." she admitted.

"They will have the time of their lives and be nice and sleepy when you pick them up. Trust me. The owners of 'The School House' were apart of the revolution and they believe in all natural, free range children."

Norma wasn't sure what Sybil meant by the revolution or free range children.

The next morning she followed Sybil's directions that required her to turn off a paved road into idyllic like farm land. In the middle of a meadow, as beautiful as anyone could want, sat a large red school house, complete with steeple and bell.

"You must be Norma Bates." a gray haired woman with colorful clothing came smiling to her in greeting. "I'm Freda Lock. Everyone calls me Freddie."

"Um, yes." Norma said carefully putting Norman on her other hip and away from the former hippie who seemed like she wouldn't leave the 60's behind. Apparently this was what Sybil had meant by the revolution. Freddie was clearly some kind of filthy, pot smoking flake and Norma wasn't about to leave her son here.

Freddie, in her brightly colored dress waved them both inside and Norma was surprised to see the little school house was very clean and well tended. The hippie woman wasn't the only one who worked there. There were other women who were reading to a group of kids Norman's age, or teaching older kids to knit or sing.

"We reduce our overhead by asking parents to volunteer once or twice a week." Freddie told her. "We've found that it's very healthy to have variety in helping the young flowers to grow. We ask that they teach the kids and not just watch the kids. At this age, the mind is so responsive. We have a woman who comes in twice a week to teach the little ones Spanish."

Norma glanced at the old hippie skeptically. She was collecting some paper work to fill out and humming to herself.  
"When Tara and I started this daycare, more than thirty years ago, we never thought we'd make it this far. But here we are. Thirty years later and there isn't a child in White Pine Bay I haven't personally nourished and cared for." Freddie said proudly. Her face was free of make up and Norma noticed strong lines across her brow and mouth, but no wrinkles at all. She must have been beautiful back when she was younger. The more Norma looked at her, Freddie didn't seem old at all. Just her body was old.

"Tara?" Norma asked. Norman was squirming to get down and play with the other children. He had a great deal of interest in terrarium with a large lizard in it.

"My wife Tara." Freddie clarified.

Norma nodded but didn't know what to say. She hadn't met a lesbian before.

"Thirty years… is a long time." she said at last.

She let Norman down so he could investigate the lizard. Her son running off and not looking back at her once.

"Now, the fees are low because we have parents coming in to help offset costs. I have a few openings for the week, but Sybil said you'll be starting a new job and you can't be certain what your days off will be." Freddie said.

"Oh, no. Not yet." Norma said.

"Well, when you know, we can pencil you in." Freddie told her kindly. "I've found a lot of parents look forward to the days they come here and play with the kids."

Norma looked longingly at her son. She wished she didn't have to leave him here, but the idea of coming to this wonderful little play room on her days off, just to entertain a pack of toddlers seemed wonderful.

She filled out all the paperwork and listed any allergies. She gave Freddie a change of clothes for Norman in case he got dirty and a bag lunch for him to eat. Another money saving plot that kept them open was to have parents pack the kids their own food.

Norma went to say goodbye to her son, but he was deeply emerged in playing with wooden blocks.

"Go on, Mrs. Bates. Norman has work to do." Freddie said gently.

~ Dropping Dylan off for his new little league program was easier. Her oldest became excited at seeing the legions of other kids running around the field playing.

"Mom!" Dylan shouted happily when he saw the group closer to his own age. He started running across the grass that was still wet from all the rain. No one else in this community seemed to notice or care about the dampness that was always in the air. Norma's hair never stood a chance once they were outside. She'd done her best to style it, but it had frizzed within seconds.

"Dylan, wait!" she called out.

Norma watched her oldest and the other children running for a while. With the sun out, watching her child playing, she could almost feel happy today. Like maybe she would be alright after all.

All her life she'd always been haunted by a feeling of doom. It was like a specter sitting on her shoulder and it was always telling her that her worst fears were real. That she was unlucky, that she was stupid, unloveable, mean, crazy, and that she deserved all the bad things life kept throwing at her.

"Can I get a name?" a friendly voice interpreted her moment of bliss. Norma jumped and turned to see a young man with an amazing smile and classically handsome features standing next to her. She felt her pulse quicken when he smiled at her.

He was the kind of man who'd always been handsome and charming. The type of high school boy all the girls longed for.

Why was he talking to her?

Asking for her name?

"I'm… I'm Norma." she said awkwardly.

"Nice to meet you, Norma." he said with a grin. "Actually, I meant your son." he nodded to the boys playing and pointed to a clip board.

"Yes." Norma said quickly.

She couldn't seem to think strait. What was wrong with her? This man, who looked barely out of high school, was alarmingly handsome. He looked like he should be on some college campus breaking sorority girl's hearts. Not out in a field with thirty screaming kids and Norma Bates.

"What's his name?" the young man asked with a laugh.

Norma could feel her face flush.

"Oh! Yes, sorry, it's Dylan. Dylan Massett." Norma said. She suddenly felt very stupid. The young man looked over the check list.

"He's not on the list. You'll have to fill out a form." he said.

Norma realized he was looking her in the eye and she felt weak at the sight of his blue eyes shinning back at her. She took a deep breath and finally looked away from him to fill out the paper work.

 _'He's not that much younger than me_.' she thought. ' _Maybe about twenty or twenty one at the most.'_

She had to shake herself out of these thoughts. She was still married to Sam and she had two young boys and no place to live yet. It was no time to be thinking about another man. Besides, prom kings didn't go for Norma Bates.

"I hope Dylan makes it onto my little league team. We don't have enough players yet. You've no idea how much I've been wanting to restart the old league." the young man was explaining. "I played when I was his age all the way to high school and it was great. So far we have four teams for his age group and the coach of the opposing one is a friend and former teammate. So it's really important my team beats his."

Norma smiled when she saw that he was teasing her.

"Will he need any equipment?" Norma asked nervously.

"No, the city and private donors provide everything." the young man said.

She looked back at him and he was smiling at her again. His classic all American good looks made her feel slightly dizzy.

"Excellent." he said when he saw she had finished.

"When is pick up?" she asked.

"No later than six." he told her. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your last name."

"It's Bates." she told him. "Norma Bates."

"I'm Zac Shelby." he said and gave her that wonderful smile again. "Normally I work for the Sheriff's department but I'm doing this as a part time thing."

"Oh, you're a cop?" she asked. Her face falling slightly. Zac must have seen it.

"Don't hold that against me." He laughed. "I'm one of the good guys."

She had to make herself laugh. She would have died from embarrassment if Zac had been one of the cops who had to handle Sam that night.

"I'm sorry. We're still new here and making friends is hard." she explained feebly.

"Well, welcome to White Pine Bay." Zac said gently. "I hope that it won't be hard for us to be friends, Norma Bates."

"Thank you." she said humbly. Her face flushing hot from the way he was looking at her.

"Will you be picking Dylan up or will your husband?" Zac asked her. His voice sounded nonchalant but Norma could see he was fishing for information on if she was single or not.

"I'm afraid it's just me." she said with a casual shrug. A smile was blooming over her face when Zac looked interested and happy to hear this.

"Well, I guess I'll see you soon, Norma Bates." he said.

~ Hilary Richards ran a tight ship with her catering jobs. The kitchen was huge and spotless and the recipes were easy. Norma liked her right away.

"I think you'll do fine, Mrs. Bates." Hillary said when Norma had calculated how much chicken they would need to feed 200 guests at a wedding later that week. Hilary had been impressed with Norma's ability to work quickly and in an assembly line fashion to box up another catering job. Even helping to plan a menu that was cheap to make but looked and tasted expensive. It was work that was easy for Norma to do. She'd always excelled in cooking, even at a young age. She helped make the sandwiches for a club luncheon later that day, did prep work for another wedding and even demonstrated her skills at frosting a cake. Explaining how she made extra money back home creating wedding cakes.

Hilary Richard looked over her newest employee with fascination and joy.

"Yes, you'll do very well here." she decided.

Norma was a little surprised Hillary paid her in cash for the days work.

"I'll pay you in cash till Sybil can get your paperwork in order." she said hastily. "I owe that gargoyle so much and she explained a little about what happened to you. I have a son who was addicted to drugs and Sybil got him into the best treatment program around. She hosted the intervention and saved my son's life. Anything she needs, I'll do for her. If your ready, Norma Bates, I could use a level headed woman like you in my kitchen full time. I know we discussed part time, but I'm always in need of a good cook."

Norma didn't bother to count the cash she was given, but stuffed it in her purse, nodded to Hilary Richard and left for the day.

~ Dylan was hot, sweaty, dirty and tired when she picked him up in the old Buick after work. Zac Shelby waved at her and showed that amazing smile of his again. Norma felt her breathing pick up a little when he told her Dylan made his little league team and that he would be seeing her a lot more.

"I hope you'll come to a few games, Norma Bates." he told her.

She blushed slightly and felt giddy when Zac smiled at her.

"I hope so." she promised.

"Mom! I'm on the team! Baseball! Mom!" Dylan was excited and glad to see her. Norma felt her heart soften at the sight of her oldest child so happy. It had been a long time since he'd showed any interest or joy in something. Even longer since he smiled.

"I guess I'll see you at the next practice?" she offered lamely to Zac. He nodded and smiled at her again. She was grateful for the line of cars to pick up kids so she had an excuse to drive away. It was all too much right now.

~ Norman was likewise tired and happy with his day. Norma found him picking wild flowers outside with the other kids. Apparently they were learning about gardening, which was just and excuses to play in the dirt. Norman's face and clothes were dirty but he was grinning ear to ear.

"We've been busy!" Norma smiled at her youngest. Norman handed her the wild flowers he'd picked as though he were giving her precious jewels.

"My sons are giving me a lot of laundry to do tonight." she teased the boys.

~ At the motel, Norma made a dinner of sandwiches and chips and had the boys bathe and go to bed early. Norman was asleep as soon as his bath was over. The sun hadn't even gone down yet and everyone was already tired. It was a good tired though. A happy and optimistic tired.

Dylan was watching a baseball game on TV while Norma gathered everyone's dirty clothes to take to the small, coin fed laundry room at the motel.

She had just taken her own shower and her hair was still damp when she stepped outside in the cool air of the evening. Already, it looked like it would rain again that night.

' _I'm never going to get used to the weather up here._ ' she thought. It was too cold to be out with damp hair and she had little else to wear for warmth.

The laundry room at the motel took quarters and Norma was able to do today's clothes in one load. Someday soon, she would have a nice new washing machine. She would have fresh smelling clothes and never have to use a pay washer and dryer again. She wanted her own laundry room to have an antique style farm sink for rinsing things out and a drying rack for her delicates. In her mind, her own laundry room was a sign that she'd made it. That she was successful and prosperous. Growing up, they never had a washing machine. Clothes were washed in the bath tub and hung to dry or they went dirty. It wasn't until Norma had left home at seventeen did she finally wash clothes at a laundry mat. She'd become fascinated by how clean everything came out. How they smelled good and were warm and comforting after the dryer.

Norma was trying to decide how she would decorate her dream laundry room when a shadow fell across the floor. She had been alone there, happy with the task of folding her newly dried clothes when an intruder tore her from her day dreams.

"Mrs. Bates?" came a voice from the door.

Norma jumped and spun around. Her heart beating so hard in her chest she almost stopped breathing. She was far away from her room and Dylan and Norma were alone there. Who would even know she was here? Who would come to help her? Who would even hear her scream with all the rain?

She saw the figure of a familiar deputy standing in the open door. He was in uniform, a large leather jacket obscuring his badge and gun, but she could still see he was on duty. He put his hands up slightly to show he meant her know harm but she couldn't stop the panic she'd felt at his entrance.

"Deputy Romero?" she breathed out. Annoyed that he'd scared her. "What are you doing here?"

She quickly crossed her arms over her chest. Suddenly very aware that she wasn't wearing a bra just now and her button down shirt was too thin in the cold air. She had only planned to do some laundry and go right back to her room.

The Sheriff's Deputy looked surprised by the question.

"I-I… came to see how you're doing. I just came on duty." he explained. His voice faltered slightly when she had snapped at him. She saw he was looking over the deserted laundry room. His eyes always inspecting things around him in a way that she didn't like. She had noticed when he looked at her legs that night. She had known those eyes of his enjoyed watching her when he thought she hadn't seen. He only ever watched her; nothing else.

"Oh." she breathed. "Well, you scared me."

"Why would I scare you?"

"Sneaking in here like that. I thought I was about to be murdered." she told him smartly. She looked around the laundry room for the wolf like police dog.

"Where's that attack dog?" she asked worriedly.

"Attack dog?" Romero asked. His brow going up in surprise. He didn't smile, but he still looked amused.

"Yeah. Is it dangerous?" she asked.

"Graceland is in the SUV and no, she's not dangerous." Romero said with only mild offense. "Do you not like dogs, Mrs. Bates?"

"Not really." Norma admitted coldly. She turned around and started to fold Dylan's shirt.

She heard Romero's footsteps coming closer, but he stayed at a distance. She folded Norman's shirt and his shorts before Romero said anything to fill the awkward silence between them.

"How are you and the boys?" he asked at last.

She smiled. It was a real smile.

"Good. We had a very good day." she told him honestly.

She quickly folded her bra. Her hands careful to hide all the lace. She noticed Romero had looked away when she got to her underwear.

"Sybil called me and said she spoke with you." he said.

"She's my hero." Norma admitted. "God, I only been in this town a few days and I've already got a job and the boys love it here. Dylan just made the new little league team and Norman was picking flowers."

She folded Norman's pajamas. She could feel herself smiling at the memory of her youngest playing.

"I as worried about the daycare. That hippie lady." she admitted.

"Freddie. Yeah. She's good. Her and her wife have run that place since forever. They took care of all the kids here." he said.

Norma wanted to ask him if he took his own children to the school house. Maybe he'd even gone there as a child himself. Surely he would have been a moody, and reserved child.

"So, you're staying here then?" he asked at last. "In White Pine Bay?"

"I think so. I like my job with the catering company and I think I might be really good at it. Hillary seemed happy." she said.

Romero nodded.

"Well, I thought you should know your husband was sent back to Arizona for the warrant but his lawyer has already posted bail for him." he said soberly.

Norma smoothed over the neatly folded clothes in the laundry hamper. Her face growing hard and her smile disappearing.

She could feel Romero's gaze on her. Feel his eyes moving from her face, down her neck, breasts, hips and backside. She stood perfectly still and let him look. Like a wild animal who know's it's being observed, but not hunted.

"Has your husband tried to make contact with you, Mrs. Bates?" Romero asked at last.

Norma shook her head.

"No. But I've been busy all day. I don't think Sam even knows where we are exactly." she confessed.

Romero nodded.

"Okay." he said softly.

The silence spun out between them. She smoothed over the neatly folded laundry again and let it spin.

"Mrs. Bates." Romero said awkwardly.

She turned around and saw his eyes looked oddly sad.

"I think you should get a restraining order against your husband. We'll do it through the sheriff's office. That way he won't have your physical address." he said.

Norma folded her arms over her chest again. Very aware of the thin layer of fabric covering her chest.

"Um…" she said with difficulty. "Sam… he might not even come back here."

"He has a son here." Romero pointed out. "His wife is here."

"Sybil is fast tracking a divorce for me." she offered lamely.

"Child support will still have to be determined, Norma. He's not going to be totally out of your life." Romero said. "I saw him become violent with you the other night while you were in the car. I wrote a statement to the court about it. I can draw up a restraining order and a judge will sign it within the hour."

Norma shook her head.

"No. I don't want child support from Sam. It would mean he would have rights to my son. I don't want him around my son. Ever. It's best if he doesn't even know we're here. He won't come all the way to Oregon from Arizona. Not for us." she explained.

Logically, that made sense. Sam was very lazy and wouldn't bother with her so far away. Plus, she had the old Buick and he didn't even have a car now.

She looked back at Romero who seemed less convinced.

"Norma- , Mr.s Bates." he corrected with that same stutter. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I've met my share of guys like your husband. He was personally insulted a few days ago. That's not something he's going to forgive easily. If he comes here, harasses you or the boys, I need to establish an order of protection so I can arrest him."

"Look, I'm divorcing him. Isn't that enough?" Norma snapped. She hated these kinds of questions. Hated when people judged her or told her she was wrong and stupid. Deep down she knew that's not what the deputy was doing, but it still angered her. She was mostly upset because she had gone all day without thinking of Sam and here he was again. It had been such a good day and now it was ruined.

She refused to look at the deputy. She turned around and started refolding Norman's shirt while she waited for her anger to pass.

"Look, I'm going to leave my card." Romero said finally. She kept her back to him, but strained her ears to listen for his movements. "My work number and extension is on there. I wrote my home number on the back to."

"Thank you." she said sadly. Her voice feeling tinny and small.

She sensed he was still in the room with her, but she wasn't ready to face him just yet. Her tears were eminent now and she had tried so hard to hold them back.

When she finally turned around, he was gone.


	7. Chapter 7

7.

~ Sherif Tom Wilson hadn't been Sheriff of White Pine Bay for long. Yet he had made a lasting impression on the people after the DEA purge. Wilson was qualified for the job after twenty-five years of experience in law enforcement in Texas. He had been the elected sheriff of a small town near Austin for four terms before coming to Oregon.

When the scandal over Sheriff Romero's arrest and conviction broke, he had been on the short list to replace the infamous 'Bear of White Pine Bay' and weed out all the corruption that had no doubt flourished in the police ranks.

Wilson had acted swiftly. He fired anyone who he remotely suspected of being involved with the drug trade cover up. He seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to finding the trouble makers. Wilson hired new deputies from other states and only kept those who he believed were trustworthy. This included the former sheriff's son, Alex Romero.

The town fathers and councilmen had made a point of telling Wilson not to keep Deputy Alex Romero in the department. His father was, after all, behind the drug profiting. Who's to say Alex wasn't a dirty cop to?

Wilson had laughed that off and did what he wanted. The fact that these men were warning him about Alex Romero was a good thing. Just because the DEA hadn't caught these upstanding citizens and politicians, didn't mean they weren't guilty. The fact that they fought so hard to have Alex gone had to mean something. For Wilson, it meant that Alex was nothing like the Old Bear and that those who were guilty, were afraid of them working together.

Wilson paid the price of his defiance. He had his tires slashed, his home broken into, even his dog had been killed and hug high in a tree. All of it was to scare him away. Nothing had stuck when it came to frightening the new Sheriff or his wife.

The morning that Wilson found his dog hanging from a tree branch with it's throat slit, Alex had shown up at the Sheriff's house with a ladder. The deputy had heard what had happened to the dog and, without asking, had climbed the massive tree and cut the poor animal down. Gently bringing the body back for a proper burial. It was that moment that Wilson was certain he'd made the right decision in trusting Alex. That the younger man wasn't like his father at all.

After they'd buried the dog, things changed dramatically. With Alex Romero openly having Wilson's back, things went a little easier. It seemed the stoic young man had his own ways of handling things that he didn't clue the Sheriff on.

Wilson never asked what they were, but there was a noticeable amount of men who left White Pine Bay in a hurry soon after. A few, the worst of dealers and con men, conveniently went missing altogether.

A few years had passed and the dust seemed to have settled. There were a peace established with proper businessmen in town. Families who kept to themselves and didn't cause trouble with there well hidden pot fields.

To keep this fragile peace, Wilson had made the decision to look the other way when the pot fields slowly sprung up again and when burn outs arrived to trim and transport the product.

His philosophy was that the drug trade in White Pine Bay was like a damn. You had to let a little pressure out at a time or everything would fall apart and destroy them. Without the money from selling pot, the town would go under. If he tried to stop it completely, there would be only be violence and if he succeeded, no economy in the town at all.

~ It was early Sunday morning and Sheriff Wilson and Deputy Romero were practicing their true religion. A few hours of fishing while the good people of White Pine Bay were saved from damnation. They did this every Sunday without ever making official plans to met. It was an arrangement that they both understood.

Wilson liked Alex. The younger man was quite when he needed to be and didn't fill the silence with useless small talk. Alex Romero was also sensible and direct. Wilson could always talk to him honestly.

Since that awful Sunday morning five years ago, Alex hadn't stepped foot in the Old County Chapel. His mother had been the religious one in the family, not Alex and certainly not the Old Bear. Besides, Deputy Romero had a chip on his shoulder when it came God after finding his mother dead.

He had no one to blame for her suicide. So, he naturally turned his anger towards God. His anger had been a quite rage that his mother had been allowed to suffer for so many years before taking her own life. He'd known that she had issues. He could remember the blood and the cutting and the crying for him not to tell.

All of that and her faith still hadn't saved her. What was worse, was that Alex didn't know where his mother was now. If she was in Heaven or Hell because she'd taken her own life. It was a painful wound he didn't want healed. He wanted it to fester and hurt even more.

"The U.S. Marshals were at my door last week." Wilson said casually after the sun finally rose up over the bay. He had a deep voice with a lazy Texas drawl. It gave him an aloofness that people found hard to read at times. He'd always gave Alex the impression that he knew more than he'd ever say out loud.

Alex looked back at the Sheriff and pretend to not be interested. His instincts telling him to say very little about Sam and especially Norma Bates. Wilson could always ferret out the truth from anyone.

~ "Tom's door or the Sheriff's door?" Alex asked carefully.

"The Sheriff's door." Wilson corrected. He let his line out as little and breathed in the cold morning. There was a chill in the air that gave no hint to it being so close to spring.

"I arrested a man who had a bench warrant." Alex explained.

Wilson nodded.

"I read the report. I hate drunks behind the wheel. Especially the wife beaters." the Sheriff said.

Wilson saw Alex stiffen from his place on the fishing boat.

"I saw the paperwork you started for a restraining order. That man's wife sign them yet?" he asked.

Alex shook his head.

"Did she ask you to file a restraining order for her?" Wilson accused harshly. "Or fax a statement to the court in Arizona about witnessing domestic abuse?"

"No. I saw him be a little rough with her the night of the arrest. Sybil Lawson told me that Norma Bates had a bruise on her face, I saw it to a few nights later. I was also told by Sybil that the wife was trying to get a quick divorce. I felt it would be to her advantage to have a restraining order in place. Just in case something happens." Alex said calmly. Wilson saw that Romero kept his eyes fixed on the water.

His deputy's response was too well rehearsed. Like Alex had planned for this exact conversation in advance. No one did that unless they felt defensive.

"I see." Wilson said.

"What?" Alex snapped. "What do you see, Tom?"

"I see what I need to see, Alex."

"Care to clue me in?"

Wilson took a long sip of water before speaking. He had quit drinking years ago and missed it everyday. But his wife, his precious Dee, has said she would leave him if he didn't stop. Like most men in law enforcement, Wilson would have been broken without his wife.

"I was talking to Zac Shelby the other day and saw this Norma Bates picking up her son from little league practice." he said.

"Dylan. So?" Alex asked.

"It's just that Norma Bates is… well, a very attractive young woman. I know Shelby agrees with me." Wilson said carefully. "Is that why you felt the need to go out of your way to help her?"

"I didn't go out of my way." Alex told him. His eyes going back to the water.

"Not what Sybil said." Wilson laughed.

"The two of you talk a lot about me I see. Don't you have anything better to do than gossip, Sheriff?"

Wilson smiled.

"Well, I feel you should know that Zac Shelby has been trying to make time with this woman. I saw it a mile away. Personally, I don't think that's a good match. Zac is too young to try and fool around with a woman who has two little kids thrown into the mix." the Sheriff said.

"Shelby?" Alex huffed. Wilson could tell he'd struck a nerve.

The Sheriff nodded.

"You really think this Norma Bates will divorce her husband?" he asked. He could feel a slight tug on his line but experience had taught him not to pull in the line too soon.

"I hope so." Alex said curtly.

"For her benefit or someone else's?" the Sheriff asked.

He saw Alex roll his eyes.

"Look. I'm not interested in a woman who has two kids and isn't even divorced." the younger man spat.

"I see." the sheriff said. "There was nothing appealing about Norma Bates at all?"

"No." Alex told him smartly.

"I see." Wilson sighed. "You know, I was just re-elected. I have four more years here and then I think I might be done."

Alex turned to him in surprise.

"Retiring?" he asked.

"Law enforcement isn't like it was. Technology and what not, it's for the younger generation." Wilson sighed. "Everything is on computers and I there's no place for an old dog to learn new tricks.

"You're being a little dramatic, Sheriff." Alex said.

Graceland had been sprawled out by Wilson's feet, waiting for him to slip her some more bacon from home. Like most dogs, she knew who to go to for treats and affection. She knew that Wilson was a dog lover and had always loved her since she came to the department. The Sheriff had allowed the dog because Alex had a tendency to be curt and rude to people, including other deputies. Yet, Romero had proven to be better than the others at every task and case appointed to him. If Alex wanted the dog to ride with him and no one else, that was fine.

"I'm going to promote you to my first deputy, Alex. I'll announce it Monday. It will be easier for you to replace me after I leave. The city council will approve my recommendation if I remind them about all the evidence I've sat on over the years to keep them out of prison. They'd be too afraid not to nominate you as Sheriff." he said.

"And then I'd be the one with the target on my back." Alex said defensively. He looked at Graceland and both of them were thinking of another dog hanging from a tree after Wilson had taken over.

"You should be used to it by now, son." Wilson said sternly. "With who your father was and what he did, you're no stranger to people hating you."

Alex looked annoyed, hurt even, by Wilson's bluntness.

"What if I don't want to be Sheriff of this town?" he asked.

Wilson looked indifferent.

"I know you want the chance to prove you're not your father." he said. "Whenever you and I talk shop you have better insights than most men I've worked with. Also, you know this town. You know the people and you know their secrets."

"I know how dangerous it can be." Alex said.

"I think you can handle it." Wilson said. "You're stronger than you think you are."

~ Alex was quite for a long time. The sun had come up and cast an angelic light over the bay. Pink, yellow and blue highlighted a scenic view and promised beautiful weather.

He was reminded of Norma Bates when he saw the blue of the sky becoming lighter. Her eye color wasn't quite this dark, but it was quickly coming close. He wondered briefly what she would look like sitting here in the boat with him. How she would just appear out of the darkness in the light of such a beautiful dawn.

"You know, it wouldn't be a terrible idea for you to get married." Wilson interrupted.

Alex tensed and wondered if the Sheriff really could read his mind.

"Man certainly wasn't meant to live alone." the older man added. "A nice woman would be good for you, Alex."

"I'm never getting married." Romero said quickly.

"Never say never." Wilson told him. "The right woman comes along and you'll snap her up quick enough."

Alex ignored him and focused all his attention on his line.

~ It had been over a week since Norma and the boys had arrived in White Pine Bay and she hardly recognized herself now.

Sybil had miraculously found them a run down, but cozy, rental home that came fully furnished and ready for them to move in. It was settled at the end of a dead in street, but with plenty of room outside for the boys to play. Dylan and Norman had to share a room again, and all of them had to share a bathroom, but the rent was affordable with her government aide check and she couldn't ask for more in life right now.

Norma had never lived on her own before. Never had to rely on just herself to make sure the rent and other bills were paid on time. It was overwhelming but she felt oddly free at the same time.

It was a quite Sunday morning and Norma was appraising her new hairstyle for the hundredth time. A new life required a new look she decided. So her trip to the local beauty parlor yesterday was still fresh in her mind. A gaggle of gossipy women with hair styles from the sixties had intimidated Norma at first. She wasn't raised to waste good money on silly luxuries like professional haircuts. Not when she'd always cut her's and the boys hair.

The older woman who owned the place was knowledgeable and decided within a few seconds what would look best.

"Your hair needs to be shorter and lighter. Something clean and fresh that will bring out that nice skin tone." she had told Norma. "Always classy, and never trashy."

Norma had trusted the stylist with the comical bouffant hairdo and submitted to being dyed, cut and styled. When she saw her new look, she almost didn't recognize her own reflection. Gone was the ragged frizz and dirty blond locks. Her hair looked like something from old Hollywood with it's lighter shade of blond and flirty, rebellious, flip.

The stylist had been right. A lighter shade made her skin look better. The cut gave the illusion that her face was slimmer and she couldn't help but marvel at this stranger in the mirror.

"With the two boys, this will an easier upkeep I think." the stylist had told Norma. "Just use styling gel, blow dry and go. Not much fuss. You've got the right kind of face that can pull off a shorter hair style. Not many women can and your pretty enough that you don't need to be too fancy."

Norma hand't thought she was attractive till the hair dresser said it so casually. With her new look, she felt more confidant than she had in a long time. She no longer looked like the trailer park wife she had been with Sam. Now, she could be anyone she wanted and the first thing she wanted was better clothes.

She'd bought all them some good winter coats and sweaters at the local resale shop earlier that week. Norma was shocked at how many high end labels were on the racks there. Some still had price tags on them. Even though the second hand clothes were very good, Norma wanted at least one thing new to wear.

 _'I'm going to buy a new dress today.'_ she decided. ' _A new life, new job, new home, new hair, and new clothes. I'm going to be the kind of woman who wears lots of dresses.'_

Once the decision was made, it was like she couldn't accomplish her goal fast enough. She woke the boys up and got them dressed. Grateful her job always gave her Sundays off so she could stay at home with Dylan and Norman. They had been so busy setting up their new place, they didn't have time for much else.

"We need to do some shopping and maybe we can go out to eat." Norma promised Dylan when he complained that he was too sleepy.

"Norman was talking in his sleep again." Dylan yawned when Norma guided him to the bathroom to pee and brush his teeth.

"What was he saying?" she called out to her oldest. She dressed her youngest son who sat sleepily on the edge of the bed. She could hear Dylan urinating through the open bathroom door.

"I don't know." Dylan said lamely.

Norma looked at her youngest. Norman showed no signs of losing sleep. On the contrary, he looked happy to see her. His blue eyes bright with the promise of a new day.

"It's just something little kids do, honey." she told Dylan when he raced back into the room to get dressed.

~ "Can we look at toys now?" Dylan asked hopefully. They had just left the local boutique where Norma had found a beautiful spring dress in royal blue. She had been impressed her boys had behaved so well in the shop and they did need a reward.

"Yes, but don't expect to get anything." she scolded.

She knew Dylan and Norman would be walking out of that shop with a new toy car or robot. She didn't know why she fought it. Money was coming in now from her job and it was nice to finally be able to give her boys something when they had so little. Besides, Dylan never asked for anything and there was a sense of guilt at allowing her son to do without things he wanted for so long.

Dylan waited at the crosswalk for the light to change. He was excited to be able to go into the toy store across the street and was fidgeting slightly in anticipation.

Norman, still in his mother's arms gave a sudden scream to be let down and squirmed to be free. She gasped at almost dropping him when he pushed away from her so quickly.

"Norman!" she scolded and managed to hoist him back onto her hip. He was getting too heavy for her these days. Norman grinned at his mother as if he had played a very clever trick.

She turned back to Dylan and saw her oldest child wasn't waiting at the crosswalk anymore.

"Dylan?" she called out. Her heart almost stopped when she saw her son just a few steps away. He had forgotten to wait for the light to change and was about to walk into incoming traffic. His little body hidden behind a parked truck and any car coming would see a green light and not a five year old boy.

"Dylan!" she screamed and tried to get to him in time.

Like something from a nightmare, a large SUV appeared on the street and all Norma could hear were the screeching of tires.


	8. Chapter 8

8.

~ Norma grabbed onto Dylan's shirt and pulled him back just before the Sheriff's SUV was able to stop. The sound of tires screeching to a halt made everyone around them turn and watch the near tragic scene. Norma was breathing hard from the panic she had just endured, and she slowly sank to the ground. Both her sons clutched tightly in her arms. All three of them were huddled together on the sidewalk, still in shock over what had happened.

She finally looked up to see the flashing roof lights of the Sheriff's SUV snap on but not the sirens. Norma was still holding Dylan to her chest when she saw Deputy Romero jump out of the driver's seat. His face pale with fright over the near miss.

"Is he alright?" Romero demanded harshly.

"Mom?" Dylan croaked. The child's thin arms hugging her back in understanding of what had happened. Norman picked that moment to start crying. No doubt sensing how upset his mother was and the sudden collapse of the three of them on the sidewalk.

"He just stepped out into the street." Romero accused.

Norma looked up at him but couldn't speak. Her heart was beating too fast over the idea her child might have been so easily killed. Romero's eyes were wide and all she could do was stare back at him.

Deputy Romero knelt down in front of her, his hand going to Dylan's back.

"Son, are you hurt?" he asked the boy gently.

Dylan unhooked his arms from Norma's body and turned to the Deputy. His little face already streaked with tears.

"Are you hurt?" Romero asked him again.

Norma watched the Deputy look Dylan over for any injuries.

"I… I didn't look… I didn't look both… both ways." Dylan stammered.

"Ma'am." came a new very authoritative voice. "Are you and the boys alright?"

Norma had been watching Deputy Romero and Dylan so intently, she didn't even notice the other man get out of the passenger side of the Sheriff's SUV. She turned to him and saw the tall, commanding figure standing over them.

She nodded quickly, her words still lost.

"Nothing to see here, folks." the older man said to the small crowd of people who had gathered around to watch the entertainment. "Everyone's fine." he added.

"Norma?" Romero asked.

She looked back at the Deputy and realized her youngest was crying and her oldest was scared, but safe.

"Yes. I'm okay." she finally managed to get out. "He just…" she looked at Dylan and felt bad for pulling him back so roughly. She probably scared her son more than the SUV did. "He stepped out into the street."

She felt winded after talking so much. Norman had started to sooth himself at hearing her voice and buried his head in her shoulder. His little fingers clutching tightly to her shirt.

"I know." Romero said with a sigh.

Norma watched him take Dylan by the shoulders, forcing the child to turn and face him. She could tell he was being gentle, that it was enough to make the boy pay attention.

"Dylan, you can **never** do that again. Understand?" Romero said. His voice was harsh, but not cruel. "You could have been hurt. You could have died. What would your mother do if you died?"

Norma felt the urge to tell Romero not to discipline her child for her, but remained silent. The look on her son's face showed total compliance with the Deputy that she had never seen before. Dylan listened to this man in a way he had never listened to her.

The boy nodded.

"I'm sorry." he said weakly.

"From now on you hold your mom's hand when you cross the street. Never cross the street alone. You know better than that." Romero scolded.

Dylan nodded.

"Yes, sir." he said at last.

"Alright." the Deputy nodded patted his shoulder before letting him go back to Norma.

"It's okay honey." she whispered when Dylan wanted more comfort. "You're alright."

"I'm sorry, mom." he cried softly.

"I know." she told him. She kissed his forehead and managed to wipe his face with her one free hand.

Her heart felt happy knowing her son, always so distant before, hugged her so freely now.

~ "I'm Sheriff Wilson." the older man said once Norma got to her feet.

Norma glanced over at the shiny new SUV with the word SHERIFF in big black decals. The flashing roof lights were still twirling and traffic was forced to maneuver around the large SUV parked in the street. Wilson and Romero seemed unconcerned. Pedestrians were walking past them and no doubt wondering what the Sheriff and his Deputy were doing talking to her.

"I'm Norma Bates." she managed to get out at last. It was relief she had managed to put Norman down but still clutched tightly to both boys hands. She was never letting go of these hands again.

"It's never easy wrangling boys this age. Especially when there's two of them." the Sheriff nodded at her sons. "You're a little outnumbered, huh?"

She knew Sheriff Wilson was trying to be kind, but a darker part of her felt like it was an accusation. That she was negligent somehow because Dylan had gotten away from her.

"I can manage." she told him. She wished she hadn't sounded so harsh. She knew this man meant nothing by it. That dark part of her had chosen to be offended by a simple comment. Telling her that he thought she was a bad mother.

Sheriff Wilson nodded and glanced back at Deputy Romero. The two men making eye contact before Wilson gave a smirk and nod.

Norma had an uneasy feeling that she had been talked about before now. It was that same feeling she always had in school when she knew the more popular girls were laughing at her behind her back.

"I hear you plan to stay in White Pine Bay." the Sheriff said at last.

"Yes." she breathed. She felt her face flush hotly.

"That's good. I hope you like it here." he said. He casually glanced back at Deputy Romero. "Hope you're making friends."

Norma stole her own look at Romero and saw his focus was entirely on her. She didn't like the way he looked at her. She could suddenly feel every imperfection was more noticeable to him. That Deputy Romero missed nothing when he looked at her.

"Sheriff, it won't happen again. Dylan knows better." she said quickly. She pulled Dylan and Norman closer to her and tried to side step past Romero. The Deputy was quick to block her. His arm extending to keep her from leaving but failing to touch her.

"No one's blaming you." he said quietly. His eyes meeting her fierce glare.

"I know." she said to him in a voice so low no one else could hear.

She realized she was still short of breath and that her hands were shaking. It was too labor intensive to talk right now. She looked worriedly across the street and back at her car. Shouldn't they just go home after all this? Dylan would be disappointed but maybe it was for the best.

"Tom, my place is close by. You can just drop us off here." Romero said to the Sheriff.

"You sure, Alex?" the silver haired man asked.

"Yeah, let me get the dog." Romero said.

Norma tensed when he mentioned the large German Shepard she'd seen the night Sam was arrested. She dislike large attack dogs. She had good reason to be afraid of them.

She watched Deputy Romero open the back seat of the Sheriff's SUV and take the leash of the police dog. Norma held Dylan closer and wondered if the dog might attack, before she realized that Romero had the animal under control.

"See you tomorrow, Alex." The Sheriff waved. He casually climbed into his nice SUV, killed the flashing roof lights and slowly pulled out of the street and eased into traffic.

"We were out fishing with the Sheriff this morning." Romero explained.

Norma pulled her attention from the potentially vicious dog and realized he was talking to her. She noticed for the first time Romero was dressed in regular clothes and not a police uniform. Jeans, a T-shirt with a flannel button up shirt as an extra layer. It seemed all the true locals wore flannel.

"That dog isn't going to attack is it?" She asked. She didn't care about fishing or how Deputy Romero spent his free time. Dylan had stepped close to the animal to pet it, before Norma pulled him back.

"No. She won't bite anyone." Romero said calmly. "Mrs. Bates, Graceland is well trained."

"A well trained attack dog." Norma counted.

"She's never attacked anyone unless I tell her to." he said cooly.

"I want to pet the dog." Dylan whined.

"No, Dylan." his mother scolded.

"It's okay. Graceland is good with kids." Romero said.

"No." Norma snapped. Her childhood fear resurfacing and making her start to panic at the idea this animal might turn mean at any second.

Deputy Romero looked hurt, but curious that she wanted nothing to do with the police dog.

"Alright." he said at last.

"Mom, can we have a dog?" Dylan asked.

"Absolutely not." Norma said.

"Dylan, you wouldn't believe the fish Sheriff Wilson caught this morning. It almost broke the pole." Romero said with an easy change of subject.

Dylan looked up at the deputy. Curious to hear more.  
"We were out on the boat all morning." Romero went on now that he had the child's attention. "Wilson is one of the best fishermen I've ever seen."

"You had a boat?" Dylan asked.

"Well, it's Sheriff Wilson's boat." Romero clarified. "Yeah, were on the bay fishing. He has a really good fishing boat that can go outside of the bay and around the coast. It even has a cabin below deck."

Norma appreciated the change of subject even though she cared as much for fishing as she did for police dogs.

"Sound fun." she commented out of politeness.

"We'll have to go out on the bay one morning." Romero told her matter of factly.

Norma laughed. It felt good to just smile. That darkness in her head suddenly vanishing at the idea of being alone with Deputy Romero.

"On a boat? In the water?" she smiled. Surely he must be joking.

"Where else would a boat be?" Romero asked.

His face bloomed with a beautiful smile and Norma was taken aback. She had never seen him smile before. His face was always seemed made of stone. His emotions seemed contained behind a very cold professional wall. Only his eyes ever showed concern or worry. But when he smiled, she could see he was actually a very handsome man.

Romero caught her looking at him and his face feel slightly. Like he had been caught with his guard down, and his expression turned to stone again.

"Being out in the bay, before sunrise, you either love it or you don't." he explained. "The only way to find out if you love it, is to go out and experience it."

"Before dawn?" Norma questioned with a grin. "You and the Sheriff were out there before the sun came up?"

"Only for a few hours this morning." he shrugged. "The sport of fishing can be time consuming."

"Hours?" Norma questioned.

She couldn't believe so much time was devoted to something so boring. Besides, fishing wasn't a sport.

"When will we be on the boat?" Dylan pipped up eagerly.

"I can ask Tom to take his boat out next Saturday." Romero offered. "He told me he has to be out of town."

"No. Deputy." Norma shook her head. "Trust me you don't want us all in a little boat for hours on end. We would drive you crazy. Dylan can't even swim."

"Mom." Dylan whined.

"No." Norma said with a stern voice.

She felt Norman pull on her hand and watched her youngest reaching out to run his little fingers over Romero's hands. The Deputy allowing the little boy to look at his fingers with toddler fascination.

"Where were you going today?" Romero asked at last. His voice somber now that she had rejected his invitation.

"Home." Norma said quickly and she noticed Dylan was too busy petting the police dog on the head to complain about missing the toy store.

The dog was stilling perfectly still and letting the little boy stroke it's head.

"Dylan. No." she whispered and pulled him away.

"I'll walk you to your car." Romero said and gave the leash a little tug. The German Shepard standing up and ready to move with him.

Norma tried to secure her shopping bag and hold each of her son's hands.

"Let me have that." Romero offered and tried to take her shopping bag.  
"No. Thank you." she said quickly.

~ "So, Sybil has you and the boys settled?" Alex asked when they started walking back to the parking lot.

"Dylan, hold my hand!" Norma ordered sharply. Her oldest child so enamored with Graceland he might wander off into traffic again.

Instead of taking her free hand, Dylan slipped his little fingers into Alex's open palm.

Alex wasn't used to being around kids. He wasn't friends with people who had small children and even if he was, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to be around them. Likewise kids weren't exactly drawn to him. As a cop, he no doubt intimidated children as well as adults.

So it was a pleasant surprise to have Dylan respond to him favorably. Especially after he took it upon himself to lecture the boy.

He hadn't meant to do it. He knew it wasn't exactly his place to correct Norma's son in front of her. He couldn't help himself. He had almost killed a child and the image of Dylan rushing into the street and almost being hit would stay in his mind for a long time.

Alex could see Norma Bates didn't like him scolding her son. However deserved it was. He guessed that was why she was so annoyed just now.

He watched as she casually pushed back an errant strand of hair. He thought she looked a little different, maybe her hair was a little shorter and lighter, but he didn't want to mention it. He was very good at noticing things that mattered, but women and their hair styles was never one of them. Whatever she'd done, he thought it suited her.

"Yes." Norma said at last. "She found us a little house to rent at the end of Pine Valley Lane."

"Yeah, I know it. Nice and quite." Alex nodded. "Lots of woods around there."

"Yes, it was fully furnished so we were able to move in." Norma agreed. "Lucky break."

"Sybil is a miracle worker." Alex agreed.

Alex didn't mention the house belonged to the Jefferson family. How Mrs. Jefferson's grown son had to put his aging mother into a nursing home last year and wanted little to do with the house he'd grown up in. It was good that Sybil had persuaded him to rent it out at last.

They walked past the busy part of downtown. Past curious onlookers who knew he didn't belong with this woman and her young children. In a small town, everyone knew everyone else and knew Alex Romero didn't belong with this woman and her two sons. No doubt the rumor mill would be in full swing tonight. Alex grimaced at the idea his personal life would be talked about. He always kept these things private and hated people to know or even speculate about who he was involved with.

"There's my car." Norma said and pointed to the old Buick.

Alex nodded.

"Well, I live over there." he said and nodded a few blocks away."White house with the green trim."

"It's nice." Norma said conversationally.

"Yeah, well, it's a rental. So…" Alex said awkwardly.

"Well. Thank you for… for everything." she said at last.

Alex saw she was looking at her shoes. Her attention always wanting to be on anything but him.

"You're welcome." he said.

A thought occurred to him and it was so like Alex Romero to spoil the perfect moment.

"By the way, Sam Bates was released on bail the other day." he said.

Norma looked up. Her eyes sparked like fire at the news.

"Have you given anymore thought to the restraining order?" Alex asked.

Norma looked a little winded and ready to faint.

"Um… he… Sam doesn't know where… where we live. If we're even still in Oregon." she explained feebly.

"It would be easy enough to find these things out." Alex told her. "You really need to sign the restraining order, Mrs. Bates."

Norma looked lost in her own thoughts.

"Um, we need to go." she said at last. She pulled Dylan and Norman to the old Buick. Escaping before Alex could protest.


	9. Chapter 9

9.

~ Everything had been so good in the bubble. Norma had thought Sam was locked up all the way in Arizona while she busy was starting her new life. She had felt safe for the first time since she could remember with this idea. She didn't want him to come back. She wanted him gone forever. She wanted to be back in her bubble.

But she knew as soon as Deputy Romero had told her about being released, that Sam would come for them. Sure he was lazy and the trip to Oregon would be a hassle, but Sam would do it just for spite. He would drag all of them back to Arizona just because he felt it was his right and because he could.

' _Maybe I should sign the restraining order._ ' she thought before quickly dismissing the idea. ' _No_. _That would only make him angrier. He really would come after us then._ ' Maybe if she made no other contact with Sam, he would leave them alone. The divorce papers were sent and that couldn't be undone. Now she wished she hadn't let Sybil send them out. She wished Sam thought they were dead. If they were dead, at least they would have peace.

~ When she arrived home with the boys she rushed them inside and quickly locked the doors. She drew the shades shut and turned off the lights in the front of the house. The Buick was tucked safely in the garage so Sam couldn't see it if he was looking for his errant family.

"Mom?" Dylan asked.

"It's okay, Honey." Norma breathed.

Why was she so frightened? Sam didn't know where they lived and he wouldn't just show up on her doorstep without her knowing. She was letting fear control her, and she didn't want her new life to be controlled by fear. She wanted to be the kind of woman who was above being afraid of someone like Sam Bates.

"We're fine." she said with a forced calm she didn't feel.

"Are we going out on the boat Saturday?" Dylan asked.

"You have little league game Saturday." Norma told him. "Remember?" She made sure the front and back door was locked before peering out the window.

"Yeah, but, can we go on the boat soon?" he asked.

Norma shook her head. Hours and hours on a small boat with the boys and Deputy Romero didn't sound like her idea of fun. He would become so bored with two small children she doubted he would ever want to talk to her again. Besides, there was something about Romero that made her uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the way he was always looking at her. It was like he was questioning her on intimate details and she was forced to answer.

She wondered why he would even ask them on an excursion like that. Why he always seemed to be visiting her, or running into her the moment her guard was down.

"We're not going on the boat. You're too little to be out on the water like that." she told her son. She opened the pantry to look for something to make for dinner. Maybe if she started cooking, her anxiety would go down.

"Mom, all the dads all take their boys on the boats." Dylan protested.

"Dylan." Norma said sternly. "That's enough."

Her oldest looked angry and she was reminded sharply of her brother in that moment. Just the way her son scowled at her when he was angry, was like seeing her brother all over again. The idea of her brother intruding into her mind made her feel ready to throw up.

"Fine! Go to your room if thats how you want to act!" Norma spat. She didn't want to look at him. Didn't want to be reminded of such a horrible part of her past. Dylan was a constant reminder of something she could never speak of. Never tell another person.

Dylan glared at her and Norma took a step back. His fearsome gaze was painful before he finally tuned to go to his room.

Norman, due to his age, seemed oblivious to his brothers outburst. He toddled into the kitchen wanting to hang on his mother's skirts.

 _'At least I never have to worry about you, Norman_.' she thought.

~ Deputy Romero spent his Sunday fishing and visiting his Grandfather in the nursing home. Unlike most of the other nursing home residents, Simon Romero was in near perfect health. His age and poor eyesight meant he couldn't live alone anymore and had repeatedly refused to go and live with his only grandson.

"One of the nurses called me Wednesday." Alex sighed when he restocked the small fridge with crackers, cheese, and fruit.

"Oh?" Simon asked innocently from the kitchen table.

"Said you left the facility again. Went to the store down the street." Alex reminded the old man.

"Lotto tickets." Simon shrugged. "I was feeling lucky."

"Granddad." Alex sighed.

"I'm old, I'm not incapable of walking to the store for a six pack, Alex." Simon said in a calm voice that seemed to be the hallmark of the Romero men.

"Since when is it a crime to be old anymore, Deputy?" Simon added with a particularly nasty emphasis on his grandson's rank.

"You know you're not supposed to drink with your medication, Granddad." Alex told him.

"I'm 90 years old." Simon told him. "If it hasn't killed me by now, it's not going to kill me."

Alex was about to look through the small efficiency kitchen so he could make a mental list of things to buy. His grandfather was well enough he could still cook for himself and keep a tiny apartment like room in the nursing home. The older man hadn't objected to the move. He'd become scared of living alone after Alex's mother died. She'd been the one to look after him and he hadn't adjusted to her death very well.  
"Enough about me." Simon said angrily. "Come over here and tell me about you. What's going on?"

Alex sighed and reluctantly sat across from his grandfather at the table.  
"Wilson is promoting me to first deputy." he said. Simon's brow went up, but he didn't smile. Another trait of the Romero men.

"Are we happy about that, Little Bear?" he asked.

"I'm not sure." Alex admitted. "It means I'll be nominated for Sheriff next election. I'm only thirty years old. I'm almost finished with my course work to get my degree. It's all coming together. Feels like the stars are aligning." He looked at his grandfather who was waiting for him to go on. Alex felt slightly embarrassed he'd resorted to talking about stars aligning.

"Whatever that means." Alex shrugged and tried to laugh the notion off.

"How's the love life?" Simon asked. "You're still a good looking kid, when you gonna bring a nice girl for me to meet?"

Alex smiled and shook his head.  
"No time for love, old man." he said.

"You need to find a nice girl soon, Alex." Simon said. "Another twenty years you won't be so handsome." *

"You don't know that." Alex laughed.

"Trust me, you don't want to be a bachelor for the rest of your life." Simon told him. "I know you thought that, what's her name again? The one you married while you were in the Marines?"

"Mariah." Alex reminded him with a feeling of nostalgia for the young man he once was. He honestly never thought of the hasty marriage ten years ago. He was sure Mariah never gave him a second thought either after she left him and sent the divorce papers. He'd signed them and settled into bachelorhood with ease. Getting married and divorced in less than a year was unsettling and he had no plans to go through that again.

"Right." Simon nodded. "Well, I think it's been long enough. I think you need to start dating seriously."

"Granddad." Alex said calmly.

"You need someone in your life, Little Bear. Someone who's glad to see you besides that dog." Simon pointed out.

"Granddad, is there anything you need me to pick up? I can come by on Monday." Alex said before standing up to go.  
"No. I don't need anything." Simon said. "How's the farm?"

Alex shook his head.

"I boarded up the windows before the frost came. Turned off the water." He explained.

"I don't know why you refuse to live in the family homestead." Simon said bitterly. My father built the foundations and main room of that house when he came home from the Great War. Why you insist on renting a house in town is a waste of money."

"I can't live there." Alex said darkly.

Both of them knew why they couldn't stay in the family farm house. The house was sound enough and always would be, but everything had changed that Sunday morning.

"I'll see you next week, Granddad." Alex waved to the old man.

~ Alex Romero, like his father and grandfather before him, had spent his whole life in White Pine Bay. He knew what house Norma Bates was talking about when she mention Pine View Lane. He drove by it later that evening when it was dark enough for no one to notice the Sheriff's department SUV down a dead end street. He was just checking on Norma, just making sure everything was alright.

A nagging feeling in his gut told him to make the slight detour down a road he never went down because it had so few houses. It was so secluded out here, that help might take a while to reach the little house. An idea that troubled him. He slowed down and peered at the cozy little house at the end of the street.

It was close to eight o'clock and he could see lights on inside. The kitchen and living room were dark, but he saw the lights were on in the large window of the master bedroom.

Alex pulled to a stop when he saw that the curtains to Norma's room were totally transparent. They were a thin, lacy material and she must have thought they were adequate from her side of the glass. Not realizing at night, with the lights on, Alex had a full view of her bedroom and Norma Bates.

He held his breath when he saw her emerge from the hallway. She was wearing nothing except a slip. It's color seeming to blend in flawlessly with her skin so that he couldn't tell where the fabric started. He noticed the oh so feminine white lace decorating the hem of her slip. The touch of lace hitting a few inches above her knee so there was no chance at Norma being modest in it.

The slip must have been satin to attract and reflect the light like it did. Norma keeping her bedroom in a comfortable, flattering light as she got ready for bed.

Alex reminded himself to breathe as he watched her apply lotion to well tones legs and arms. He detested the fact that he was watching her, but couldn't seem to look away. How wonderful it was that Norma slept in something so beautiful and not in a common T-shirt or childish pajamas made for adults.

He watched with appreciation as she climbed into bed and snapped off the lamp. Alex having to come back to reality and realize he was going home tonight alone.

~ After dinner, with the boys bathed and put to bed, Norma had trouble falling asleep once she was in her own bed for the night. She didn't like this new feeling of dread seeping into her life. The new life she was so good at now. Her boys were doing well, her job was great and now she felt like it was in danger. Now, Sam could come and screw it all up. Why couldn't he just drop dead?

Norma got out of bed, pulled on her robe and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. She spotted her handbag and remembered that night in the laundry room at the motel. Maybe seeing Alex again had triggered the need to feel safe. As much as she wanted to dislike him, she always felt protected around him.

She dug into her purse, found her billfold, and pulled out the white business card Deputy Romero gave her. He had scrawled his home phone on the back. ALEX written in big, messy letters like how all men wrote.

She sat down on the sofa and ran her fingers over his handwriting before turning the card over to study his credentials carefully.

 **Deputy Alex Romero**

 **White Pine Bay Sheriffs Department**

 **White Pine Bay, Oregon**

She read over his office phone number and extension. She wondered if she should call him right now. A crazy part of her just wanted someone to tell her Sam wouldn't bother her. She wanted to just hear those words from someone who's voice was confident and sure. Someone who was divorced from emotion and knew about these things. Someone who had easily taken Sam out before without breaking a sweat.

Norma realized she liked that part about Romero best. Better than how he was with Dylan or how he looked when he gave her that rare, brilliant, smile. She liked the fact that Romero had so easily hurt the man who had hurt her.

"Alex." she whispered. Her hands covering the business card like she was about to start a prayer. "Alex, tell me it's going to be okay."

 *** "Another 20 years you won't be so handsome." WRONG! ;) Alex aged perry well.**

 **I saw the trailer 2 for season 5 and it was awesome! Nestor looked so good!**


	10. Chapter 10

10.

~ Alex was having trouble concentrating the next morning at work. He kept picturing the graceful lines and curves of Norma Bates in that slip. How she looked, how she moved when she thought no one was watching made his heart beat faster. The sheer sinfulness of observing a beautiful woman in her most private moments was far more delightful than he could have imagined. Voyeurism was defiantly underrated.

The gentlemanly thing to do now would be to tell Norma that he could see right through the curtains of her bedroom at night. Of course he couldn't say that **he** saw through them. Romero would have to explain how and why he was looking at her house in the first place. The last house on a dead end road; where he had no business to be that night.

He went over various scenarios in his head about knocking on her door and, always professionally, telling her that anyone can see through those curtains. That it was a little awkward, but she needed to be aware of it. There were a lot of perverts out there after all.

Yet, every time he thought of how to tell her, his imagination went wild with what might happen next.

Perhaps she would be angry. He could understand that. Maybe a little shocked or embarrassed. Although she had nothing to be embarrassed about as far as he was concerned. Norma was blessed with regal good looks in her face and body.

She moved with the grace of a classically trained dancer and Romero much preferred the idillic daydream of her casually answering the door in nothing but that elegant night slip. He would tell her, as a Sheriff's deputy, that he could see through her curtains. That he was more than happy to help hang new ones if it meant she could have her privacy back.

That of course he was concerned about her privacy and he was only telling her this because it was his duty. That he would never watch her without her knowing.

She would only smile and welcome him into her home, telling him she knew he had been watching her last night. That she wanted him to see her. That she wanted him to see her again tonight.

Alex could feel his pulse quicken as he surrendered to the day dream of Norma seducing him. The idea that she would smile a wicked, manipulative grin at him as she slowly pulls down that slip. Asking him if he wanted her to wear something else instead. Asking if he wanted to just watch her tonight, or do something about it.

His imagination quickly escalating into various scenarios of telling Mrs. Bates she was misbehaving. That she obviously needed some discipline and he was more than up to the challenge.

He was deeply invested into the vision of having Norma, in all her regal beauty, naked and bent over his lap as he spanked her, when Tome interrupted.

"Alex!" The Sheriff barked.

Romero looked up and realized Tom had been calling him.  
"Oh. Sorry." he said and moved some papers on his desk.

"You getting sick or something?" Wilson asked.

"Why would you say that?" Alex asked.

"You're flushed. You look like you've got a fever."

"I do? I'm sure it's fine." Alex said innocently.

"Well, it's time we make the announcement."

"Right." Alex nodded and decided he needed a moment to calm his body down. "Yeah, I'll be right there."

"We're all in the conference room."

"I'll be right there." Alex called out. Thankful he was sitting at his desk where no one could see exactly where his day dreams had lead him.

~ Dylan's first baseball game was less than a week later. Being that the teams were confined to a small budget, there were no uniforms for the players yet. Instead Norma had outfitted her oldest with a red T shirt as instructed by Shelby.

She had been surprised when Dylan's coach had called her Monday evening. Norma hadn't slept very well the night before and was making silent plans to leave White Pine Bay without a word of goodbye to anyone. Just pack herself and the boys in the old Buick and see how far they could get before it broke down for the last time.

"I know I said there was no cost but he will need a red shirt for the game." Zac said apologetically.

Norma watched the boys eat their dinner while she held the kitchen phone to her ear. She ran her hands through her new hairstyle for the hundredth time and suddenly wished she had make up on. A silly idea because Zac was on the phone and couldn't see her.

"Oh. That won't be a problem, Zac." she said casually.

"Great." he said. "Dylan has been doing really well. I can't wait for you to see him play Saturday."

Norma felt her heart beat quicken. Her face growing warm at the prospect of seeing Zac at the game. She was reminded of being in high school when a boy called to ask her out. Her fingers even twisting around the curling phone cord while she tried to think of something witty to say.

"Well…. um, that sounds great. I know Dylan is super excited for his first real game." she said a little too brightly.

"You know, the parents like to take the kids to the local pizza place after. Win or lose type of thing. It helps encourage good sportsmanship for the kids to eat pizza with the team they played against." he told her.

"Oh. Oh yeah that sounds like a good idea." Norma said. She felt stupid for not thinking of something more clever to say.

"It would be nice if you and Dylan can come. I could always use another grown up that's more level headed. Some of the parents can be a little too involved in the game. They forget it's just a game, and that these are just little kids, you know?" he said.

Norma started to grin. She felt her heart beating with happiness.

"Oh. Yeah." she breathed and tried to sound carefree. "Yeah, I got your back."

She closed her eyes with the sudden embarrassment of saying something so stupid. What grown woman actually said that?

Zac laughed. A warm, enchanting chuckle.

"Well, Norma Bates, I'm looking forward to Saturday then. Game starts at six o'clock sharp." he said.

"I'll, um, WE will be there." she said breezily.

~ The rest of the week felt easier after Zac's phone call and her promise to attend Dylan's game. She had the sense that maybe things would be okay. That maybe Sam would stay away forever, sign the divorce papers and leave her and the boys alone for good.

On Saturday, it was a mad race to get Norman and Dylan ready for the game. The large park was packed with children and adults setting up lawn chairs and coolers with drinks.

Norma looked for Dylan's team in the clusters of children dressed in different primary colors. Little kids ran everywhere wearing yellow, green, blue and orange.

"Where the hell are they?" Norma breathed. Her hands clutched tightly to Norman and she felt out of place among all the sports parents.

These were the fabled soccer moms. Elite women who didn't have to work long hours on their feet, and had their children in all kinds of expensive and enriching activities. Sports, dance classes and maybe even beauty pageants. Things that they could show off to the relatives and friends and feel superior.

Norma had never had the money or time to invest in anything substantial for the boys. Not that her parents did much for her with things like this. She only learned to sew, bake, and play piano at school. She had wanted to learn these things and took the time to be good at them. Her parents would never have come to games or concerts like the parents around her now.

"Norma?" a voice called out over the shouting of children.

She turned to see Zac Shelby walking towards her. His radiant good looks and welcoming smile immediately put her at ease.

"Oh!" she breathed. Relief at seeing him and glad she was in the right place.

"Norma, we're over here." he said with a smile. He reached out to her and, like it was meant to be, Norma stepped closer to him. She felt his hand go to the small of her back, guiding her to the baseball field where Dylan's team would be playing.

"I'm glad you came." he said with that same charming smile that was always ready for her. "We need more people cheering for us."

"Always ready to cheer for the team." she said happily. It felt nice to walk next to Zac to the baseball game. It made her feel special and wanted.

~ It was endearing to watch pre-school aged children try to play baseball after a while. The rules were quickly forgotten in favor of trying to run to first base even if the hitter had struck out. In Norma's mind, Dylan seemed more adapt at the sport than the other players. Her son looked at Shelby for instructions and even hit the ball on his second swing.

Norma screamed at him to run and she cheered wildly when he reached second base. The game ended an hour later with Shelby and the other coach encouraging the players to shake hands.

"Guys, I'm super proud of how you played today. Everyone did their part and you're all winners." Shelby was telling the team. Norma wasn't even sure if Dylan's team won or not. She guessed that that wasn't the point.

~ The pizza party was likewise chaotic with all the children running around and shouting. Norma chipped in money along with the other parents and enjoyed watching Dylan play and have fun with his teammates.

"I heard what happened Sunday." Shelby said.

Norma was holding her youngest on her lap when they were joined by Zac who'd been thoughtful enough to bring them something to eat.

She looked up in surprise.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Romero almost ran Dylan over?" Shelby reminded her. "I heard about it Monday. Must have been scary."

"Oh. It was fine. Dylan just stepped into traffic. He was fine." Norma said quickly. "You heard about that?"

"Small town." Shelby confessed. "This kind of thing gets around. Especially when it was the Sheriff's car."

"Yeah, I met him." Norma said remembering the tall, silver fox with Romero. "Deputy Romero and the Sheriff had been fishing."

Zac smiled but looked uncomfortable.

"Sheriff Wilson and Romero have always gotten along. In fact…" Shelby looked around to make sure they weren't overheard. "The rumor is since Romero was made first deputy Monday, he will be the new Sherif before the next election. The town council weren't happy about it either."

Norma leaned in across the table. Delighted to hear some gossip that wasn't about her.

"What, they don't like Deputy Romero?" she asked. She couldn't imagine politicians not liking someone like deputy Romero. He was such a strait arrow. Exactly the kind of man you would trust to run things.

"You don't know who Romero's dad was? What he did?" Shelby asked in disbelief.

Norma shook her head but was eager to hear more.

"This town used to be big in the drug trade till a few years ago, the DEA raided the place. No one knows who called them in. Romero's dad was the Sheriff and the Old Bear is now in prison for corruption, concealing evidence, bribery and the murder of a DEA agent."

Norma leaned back into her seat. The scandalous news hitting her hard.

"Oh my, God." she whispered. "I had no idea. How is he still working here if his father did all that?"

Shelby shrugged.

"I guess Alex never got caught, maybe he's just too tight with the right people." he said. "The DEA investigated everyone in the Sheriffs department for over a year. It was before my time, but they never found anything on Alex when his old man went away."

"You think Deputy Romero… that he's corrupt to?" Norma whispered.

She honestly didn't picture Alex Romero as being a shady character. He seemed too inflexible to collaborate with criminals. It was hard to imagine him concealing evidence and murdering people for his own justification.

"I don't know him well enough to say." Zac sighed. "But now he's not just your average deputy anymore. He's risen through the ranks at the Sheriff's department pretty fast, and I know he's friends with some powerful people here. Some dangerous people. It's no coincidence that he and Wilson are as thick as thieves."

Norma nodded.

"Thanks for telling me." she said plainly.

"I don't want to scare you, Norma. That's the last thing I want." Shelby said kindly. "I just want you to know the truth."

He was smiling at her then. That all American boy next door appeal clearly shinning through.

"I'm glad I know." she confessed. "I'm glad I know who I can trust."


	11. Chapter 11

11.

~ Alex couldn't help but make the U turn down Pine Valley Lane after dusk. The house looked cozy and all the lights were on inside.

Norma apparently wasn't too concerned with being see way out here and she had a habit of keeping the curtains open in every room. Alex turned off his head lights to escape her noticing his vehicle, and made the briefest of tunes arounds.

He wasn't going to watch her like he did the other night. That had been wrong. So, instead he would drive past her house just to make sure she and the boys were alright. That's all he cared about.

He'd seen a lively family life inside for just those few seconds. Dylan in his pajama's jumping on Norma's bed. Norma laughing at him and waving at him to get down. The youngest child, Norman, racing all over the house and doing his best to move kitchen chairs and toss throw pillows on the floor. Norma was almost always in the kitchen cooking or wrangling the boys. She looked happy even when things seemed slightly chaotic.

It had been this way everyday for a week before Alex spotted something unusual at the little house.

He was surprised to see an SUV belonging to the Sheriff's department sitting in her driveway. His first instinct was that something awful had happened and Norma had called for help. Alex had been on patrol all day and hadn't heard anything on the radio. He slowed down and turned off his headlights.

When he made the turn around at the end of the street, he drove back and had a clear view into Norma Bates' home. He felt his heart crash violently into his stomach to see Zach Shelby sitting at her kitchen table with her and the children. Norma was smiling at him and handing him a plate of food. The boys seeming happy that he was there. Dylan especially looked pleased, and from Romero's point of view, Shelby looked like he belonged with them more than he ever could.

Alex pressed hard on the gas and the SUV lurched forward and out of Pine Valley Lane.

~ "That was a great dinner, Norma. Thank you." Shelby said when Norma handed him his glass of wine. Dylan's game had been a few days ago, but Zac had kept making flimsy excuses to call her. Finally she invited him to dinner with her and the boys. An invitation he readily accepted.

"It was nothing." Norma lied. In reality she had taken unusual care with dinner tonight. She knew she had made too much, a good sized roast, potatoes, carrots, greens and homemade biscuits. That wasn't even counting the chocolate cake she had baked especially for her guest.

The four of them had a very pleasant meal and Norma had been glad when the boys, full from dinner, had willingly gone to bed early, leaving the two of them alone.

"It was **not** nothing." Zac laughed. The two of them collapsed easily on the sofa in her small living room. "I doubt I've been fed this good in a long time. I'll have to be careful or I'll get too fat hanging around you, Norma Bates."

She smiled and leaned back against Shelby's chest. It felt good to be appreciated like this. To have her cooking marveled over, her home praised and the boys behavior kept in check by a masculine presence who wasn't half drunk or belittling their mother.

Zac had complimented Norma on everything she did, no matter how small. She felt a little unsettled by the way he was so quick to flatter her.

"Do you plan on hanging around me a lot?" she asked softly. Her cheeks felt warm and she was glad her back was to Shelby and he couldn't see.

Zac wrapped his arms around her shoulders and she felt his lips tickle her cheek.

"I'd sure like to." he whispered.

Norma felt that giddy, school girl, rush of happiness she always associated with recklessness. Memories of how Sam had seduced her away from her first husband flooded her mind. Sam had flattered her like this all the time. He had given her attention when her first husband neglected her. She had been helplessly drawn in and felt immune to consequence for her actions. All her life she felt deprived of love and affection from men. It had felt wonderful to have Sam lavish all his time on her. Treating her like she was the only woman he could ever love. Then things quickly turned sour when reality set in.

"Are the boys asleep?" Zac asked. His hand brushed gently over her breast and Norma felt her breathing pick up.

"Zac?" she whispered. "I don't think that's a good idea."

She leaned away from him. The warmth of his body had felt perfect, and without it, she was suddenly cold.

"What isn't a good idea?" Shelby questioned knowing full well what she meant. She looked at him and saw an amused look on his handsome face.

Norma sighed.

"We don't really know each other that well. I mean, I'm not even divorced from my husband yet." she explained carefully. "You're still young, good looking. I'm sure you can do better than a single mother of two boys."

Shelby laughed and then looked her in the eyes.

"Norma, if I wanted to be with women my own age, I would." he explained. "In case you haven't noticed, I take myself a little too seriously. I'm not going to keg parties at the frat house. I'm not looking to just score or add a notch on my bed post. I like being with you because you're not like other women. You're much more interesting. The girls my age have no focus, or direction in life. They aren't realistic and I can't even hold a conversation with them."

"Zac, I have the boys to think of. If you're in my life you're in their life to. I'm not sold separately." she explained.

"I coach little league in my spare time." Shelby told her. "I'm living in a house that's half a construction zone because it was all I could afford and I'm fixing it up to be a showplace one day. I'm establishing a career when most guys my age are flunking out of college. In case you can't tell, I'm ready for the commitment, Norma."

She wanted to believe him. Her heart ached to believe that she and the boys could one day be a happy family with Zac. To belong to him and have her sons raised by a good man. That they could live together in a big house and be the picture perfect family she always longed for.

She felt his hands reaching over her thigh, His fingers nestling between her legs.

"If you're reluctant because your divorce isn't final, I'll respect that. We can wait as long as you need to. But I'm not going anywhere, Norma. I'm perfectly happy being your dinner guest till you say it's time for more. I'm willing to prove myself if you'll give me the chance." he said.

Norma felt her stomach flutter with Shelby's sincerity.

She ran a hand over his face. When their eyes met, she was taken aback by the way he didn't flinch or look away. Zac saw his opportunity and took it, his lips perfectly meeting hers. She kissed him for a long time. Her body warming up to the feel of him. His strength and masculinity overpowering her senses till he broke away.

"I should go." he whispered sadly.

Norma felt a pain at being separated from his kiss at that moment. She opened her mouth to ask him to stay, but something made her remain silent. The darkness, like an ugly black bird, was whispering bad things to her.

 _'It's too good to be true. Handsome and younger than you? Please. You're **are** just a notch on his bedpost and you know it. He's lying. How can you tell if a man is lying? His lips are moving, dummy! Didn't you learn anything from Sam? You're just so ready to give it up for anything that gives you the slightest bit of attention. You really are the whore your father always said you would be.'_

Norma blinked and the pain in her chest widened. She didn't like this negative side of her.

She didn't want to keep feeding it to keep it alive; but she couldn't help herself. It wasn't the right time to let Zac sleep over. What if her intuition, however negative, was right?

"Maybe we can all go out to a movie next week?" Shelby said with that same charming smile. "Let the boys sit up front and you I will have the back?"

He was teasing her and she laughed at the idea of the two of them acting like teenagers.

"That sounds really fun." she agreed.

And it did.

"Alright." he said. "I'll call you later."

"Okay."

Zac leaned over and kissed her sweetly on the cheek.

"I meant what I said, Norma. Dinner was amazing." he added. "And so are you."

~ Rebecca Hamilton had always held a strange appeal to Alex. She was after all, very attractive. He wasn't fooled by her, not for a second, but he appreciated certain aspects about her. The classy way she dressed, her intelligence and her shrewdness. Rebecca was many things, but she was never bashful.

"Buzz around town is, you've been wanting to play house with this single mom." she teased him.

Alex leaned away from her. He could tell from her breath that she'd been drinking, but then again, so had he. Rebecca had dropped by his house unannounced that evening as was her habit, and Alex could never say no to what was bound to happen.

In fact he welcomed it. His feelings for Norma had made his body feel more tense than normal. All he could think about most days was being in that house with her, at that dinner table with her, in that bedroom with her….

Then to see Shelby there in his place had made him slightly sick. Tom had warned him, but he hadn't taken it seriously. Shelby was too young for Norma. He was barely out of high school and why would he want to chain himself down to a woman with two young children?

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked with a cold indifference.

He was sitting comfortably in his living room chair, Rebecca straddled across his lap. Her legs dangling over each arm rest. Another fascination she held for Alex, was her glaring sexual powers. It wasn't even romantic, just pure animal lust that roused him. He wondered if it was something she had learned and used to her advantage, or if she was just in a constant need of sexual satisfaction through manipulation.

She tossed her long reddish hair back and gave a fake laugh.

"You and that Bates woman? I heard you were downtown last Sunday walking with her and her kids. Seems you looked like a regular family." she said. Her words like acid in his ears.

"I almost hit her son when he ran out into the street." Alex said calmly. His fingers grazing over the black silk stocking of her well toned leg.

"Is that all? You know, I think it's sexy you want to play daddy." she whispered in his ear. Her voice electric with some imagined game involving such a morbid scenario.

"Did you really come over here this late to talk about some other woman and her kids?" Alex asked.

His fingers were pulling down the stocking off her leg. Another thing he liked about Rebecca, she always dressed up for sex. She always dressed up so he could slowly, sometimes roughly, undress her. Her silk stockings were the old fashioned kind that demanded great care to slip off first one leg, then the other. She always wore a corset with intricate lacings that forced him to unravel slowly.

She was kissing his neck in the way she knew he liked best, but he pulled away when she went for his lips.

He knew Rebecca was also sleeping with Bob Paris, Nick Ford and other powerful men in town. She was the type of woman who was drawn to powerful men. It didn't bother Alex that she slept around, they didn't have that kind of relationship; and he didn't lie to himself that they did. The only thing good about them together was sex; and when that was done, they had no other contact. She didn't even nod to him on the street during daylight hours.

In reality, he didn't think Rebecca was a good person. But she knew what he wanted and gave it to him easily without asking for anything in return. She made him forget, temporarily, how lonely his life was and for just a few hours, she made him feel happy.

"You know what I came here for." she whispered and tried to kiss him on the lips again.

Alex moved away from her kiss. He didn't like the idea that the same mouth that serviced Bob Paris and Nick Ford would make contact with his mouth. He knew it was hypocritical of him to be involved with the same woman as the men he was forced to tolerate, but Rebecca asked nothing from him except his physical self.

That was something he could do, but he wouldn't kiss her. Wouldn't allow himself to feel anything more for her than just physical.

"Come on, baby." she purred in his ear. "To celebrate your promotion."

She ground her hips deeper into his lap and Alex felt himself relenting. His hands went to her long hair and laced through the tresses.

"The condoms are in my room." he told her in a whisper.

A look of disappointment washed over her face, but she smiled.

"We don't have to use them." she told him with a breathy laugh.

"Yeah. We do." Alex informed her coldly. He didn't want to insult her by bringing up all the men she was with. The men he knew about was enough. Bob Paris had peculiar tastes and Alex was sure Rebecca wasn't his only bedfellow at those parties.

She did look insulted though.

"I thought you wanted to play daddy, Alex." she teased.

"I never told you that." he said. He could feel a hardness for her growing, it was always this way when she came by uninvited for a quick, heated coupling. His lust burned hot for her until it was satisfied, and was quick to turn cold.

She rolled her eyes.

"So, no playing with the loaded gun then?" she asked. "It could be exciting."

"I have enough excitement." he told her.

She leaned in close and whispered in his ear.

"You're just lucky a like the way you fuck. Otherwise I wouldn't put up with you for a second. No one would."

Her words burned him and he pulled her back by the hair. His lover yelped slightly, but started to smile at the prospect of something kinky. Alex let her go, but only so his arms could go around her back side, lifting her up off his lap.

Her arms and legs were wrapped around him as he carried her easily to the bedroom.

~ Alex was on his last round of the evening. He would no longer be on evening shift or night shift for that matter if he didn't want to. As first deputy to the Sheriff, he could comfortably work any shift he liked now without concern. He decided that he still might rotate between the three shifts. It would help to keep an eye on the town better, although he might lose more sleep.

Such a schedule had it's benefits. It would make it hard for certain people to drop by his house without notice. It's not that he didn't have a good time with Rebecca, the woman defiantly had skills. It was always after. He always felt bad after they had pleasured each other so well. Perhaps it was because their physical intimacy never evolved into an emotional one.

Rebecca's pillow talk never interested him and he wondered when she was planning to leave. Alex never allowed her to stay the night and last night was no exception. It had been especially awkward when she talked about their future together.

"You know we could make this work." she had told him lazily.

Alex's body had been appeased and he was honestly open to anything after the feverish tussle they had enjoyed.

"Make it work?" he asked. His breathing was still hard in the darkness of the bedroom.

"We could move in together. You know I'm sick of having a roommate. Why don't I just move in here?" she said casually.

Alex had felt physically ill at the idea of seeing Rebecca everyday. She was enjoyable, there was no denying that, but only in small doses. He had also been a little annoyed that she didn't want him to wear a condom. Her 'Daddy' comments while she rode him were also off putting. He could feel a trap being set and decided to cut her off before things got worse.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Alex said curtly. "What would Bob Paris say?"

"What makes you think Bob Paris would care?" he laughed. "We're not a couple."

"Neither are we." Alex reminded her.

Rebecca looked angry.

"I see." she said. Her eyes flashing angrily. "That's all I am to you? A good time and not wife material?"

"You're the one who came to see me." Alex reminded her soberly. "I didn't ask you over here and certainly didn't make you stay."

Rebecca looked ready to spit fire. She quickly slipped out of his bed and dressed. Alex didn't bother taking in the view of her body while she was putting her clothes back on.

He knew she would be mad at him for a while. That she would go for weeks or even months without calling him or stopping by. He also knew she would eventually come back. She would see his SUV parked in front of his house late at night. She would ring his doorbell and he would let her in.

They would have brief catch up and the get down to business. After their fun, they would most likely have the exact same fight and everything would repeat itself.

Alex's love life was never stellar, and perhaps it was always meant to be that way.


	12. Chapter 12

12.

~ Alex noticed that Shelby had come into the station in too good a mood the next morning. His pretty boy looks were always annoying to Romero, but after last night, he could hardly stand them.

"Morning, Alex." Zac said happily. "Is the coffee fresh?"

Alex didn't bother to look at him.

"You'll be riding with me today, Shelby" he said coldly.

Zac looked up in surprise. Romero normally had Graceland as his only partner, and preferred it that way. It wasn't in his nature to ever have or enjoy the company of humans. Aside from his Sunday mornings with the Sheriff on the bay, everyone knew Alex Romero preferred Graceland and his own companionship.

"The K-9 unit? You want me to ride with the dog?" Zac asked after a seconds pause. Shelby, like most people, were a little leery of Graceland and tended to avoid her. Too many of them had seen the police dog in action to think of her as a cute and cuddly mascot. "Is there something going on?"

"See you in the car. Five minutes." Romero snapped curtly.

~ Shelby didn't waste time with coffee and instead followed Alex to his patrol SUV for the morning errands that involved basic meet and greet of local businesses. Just showing your face in a place helped to stave off bad elements.

Graceland didn't like Shelby sitting in the passenger seat next to Romero. She gave a low growl that her pack leader didn't bother to reprimand.

Shelby looked nervously at the animal that kept giving him signals not to get on her bad side.

"How's the little league team this year, Zac?" Alex asked after thirty minutes of only Graceland's deep growls. Romero didn't mind the awkwardness. He used it to his advantage. He was Shelby's superior now and intended to use his new authority. He knew he made Zac uncomfortable by not talking. He knew he made a lot of people uncomfortable just by being in the same room as them. But only guilty people were ever made to feel uncomfortable around a man like Alex Romero.

"The team?" Zac asked. His perfect smile at the ready. Happy to talk about such an easy subject as sports. "It's going great. It's the younger kids right now. The five to seven year olds so it's more of a three ring-"

"Teaching them team work and good sportsmanship?" Alex interrupted. It was his style to ask another question before his suspect had the chance to really answer the first one. To let the guilty party rush ahead and explain themselves into a jail cell.

Graceland gave a frustrated woof in Shelby's direction before settling down in the backseat. Her eyes on the interloper in case he stepped out of line.

Zac didn't seem to take the bait. He nodded slowly.

"That's the plan." he said carefully.

"Parents giving you a hard time?"

Zac shook his head and look out the window.

"Not really." he said casually.

Alex could feel his jaw tighten. His teeth wanting to grind together.

"You seeing anyone, Zac?" he asked. His voice trying to sound friendly, but he knew it never came off that way.

Shelby smiled and let a full five seconds pass before he answered.

"Well, now that would be my personal business, wouldn't it, Alex?" he responded.

Romero's back teeth ground together.

"You know, it's not easy." he said.

Shelby was silent.

"Dating I mean." Alex explained. "Especially in a small town like this where everyone talks and everyone knows about your private life."

"I guess so." Shelby said after another five seconds of silence.

"Especially when you're a public figure. When you have to have the respect of the people you serve. You always have to use discretion." Alex told him.

Shelby nodded. The younger man's eyes focused on the view in front of them.

"Dating young women who are single is one thing. But a woman with two young children, a woman who isn't even divorced from her husband yet, is something people will talk about." Alex said at last.

"You're trying to tell me you know about Norma Bates and myself." Shelby said indifferently. "That people in town are talking about us."

"People will talk about the two of you." Alex said easily. "We both know that. If it ends badly, it would hurt her reputation and yours."

"I don't see it ending badly." Shelby said with such arrogance Alex wanted to punch him.

Instead he pulled over the SUV and glared at the younger man.

"I don't want to hear about you using her just because you want to play house. It's not just your life here. She has two young kids and technically she still has a husband. The city doesn't need it's police force to have that kind of reputation and frankly, Norma Bates doesn't need to be the subject of gossip around town either." Alex said.

He never raised his voice, but he knew Shelby was paying attention.

"It would be a shame if you hurt her. I'd hate to have to break your legs for it, Zac." Alex said with an indifferent and steady voice.

Shelby finally turned to him. His eyes wide with understanding.

"Norma and I… nothing happened." he explained carefully. "She didn't want to rush things."

Alex waited for Shelby to go on. He could tell the younger man was telling the truth about not sleeping with Norma Bates. Still, he didn't trust Shelby. He wasn't sure what his motives were, but he would find out.

"At least till her divorce comes in." Shelby added.

Romero put the SUV in drive again.

"I think you and I will start riding together from now on." he said cooly. "I'm glad we had this talk."

~ Norma was feeling good today. More than a month in her new home and in her new life and she felt reborn. Sometimes she hardly remembered her old self. Her job was enjoyable. Her boss seemed unable to live without her and that made Norma feel good about herself.

She'd never been in a position where she felt so needed by someone who wasn't her child. She wasn't used to being praised and admired for something as simple as cooking and decorating a cake.

Her life before now had her so beaten down that she thought very little of herself. Growing up she never found approval from her parents. Occasionally her teachers thought she had potential, but her home life was always such a mess that things like college and normality were beyond her reach.

Now, sometimes she didn't even remember what it was like before. To have to tell the boys there was nothing for dinner. To be so lost and frustrated with her own destiny she could hardly stand it.

Coming here, creating this better life, had felt like culture shock. If she needed groceries, she was able to go and buy them. She didn't have to ask someone else for money and explain why she needed it and if she really needed it. She paid her first electric bill ever and felt happy knowing that the power would stay on. Her checks from the bank had her name alone on them and she kept careful tabs on her hard earned money.

She was frugal with her food budget and her government subsidies helped more than she ever imagined. Her pantry was stocked and her boys didn't have to go to bed hungry. She could even afford to buy herself something nice one a week. Whether it was a new hair cut or a sexy nightie no one would see her in, it was pleasant to treat herself.

To tell herself she deserved to look good and feel good in her new life.

People always complained about going to work and hating it, but Norma enjoyed having a place to go outside of the house. She had no idea that she could feel so fulfilled with something as simple as steady employment and a home of her own. Shelby had called yesterday, but didn't mention going to the movies with her and the boys. That darkness in her mind chirping at her. Telling her that maybe he really wasn't interested in dating a woman with two small kids in tow.

She let go of the idea of Shelby easier than she thought she would. She wasn't ready for a romantic relationship right now. It was enough to be on her own and to prove to herself that she could do it.

~ "Macaroni and cheese?" Norma laughed. "Honey, we had that last night."

"I like it with the little hot dogs!" Dylan cried. Norman turned to his mother and grinned.

"Alright." Norma sighed. "I'll make that for you two; but I'm going to make myself something good."

"Okay." Dylan called out.

Norma smiled at them. Dylan was coloring and Norman was playing with the little barking dog she'd given him yesterday. Her boys had never had that many toys to start with and she'd always felt guilty about that. She'd grown up without nice new dolls and she wanted better for Dylan and Norman now. The boys were camped out in the living room where she had allowed them to build a couch fort on this rainy Saturday. Lately their behavior was better than she had ever seen.

Sports had proved to be a perfect outlet for Dylan, and Norman thrived now that he was around other children his own age. She had always wanted to keep her youngest at home for as long as possible. Part of her thought Norman needed to be protected, but she knew she was just being selfish with her baby.

"When can we go outside?" Dylan asked for the tenth time.

"When it stops raining." she told him. "You'll have to wear your new rain boots when you go out."

"Mom, there's a car in our driveway." Dylan said.

Norma raced out of the kitchen. She was sure it was Shelby paying her a surprise visit. She ran her hands through her hair and smoothed down her shirt and skirt. She didn't even wait for the doorbell to ring and instead opened it to her visitor who had just stepped on the porch.

Sam stood there looking at her with a pleased smile.

"Norma. Baby, I'm so glad to see you." he breathed.

Norma took a step back. It was a reflex at seeing her former abuser in the flesh without warning. Sam was here. He had invaded her new life. He was here in the one place he shouldn't be.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. Her voice felt flat and none of the courage she wanted came to her now.

"I came to get you and the boys." Sam said. He met her eyes and she was amazed to see he looked better. His skin seemed healthier and he looked more like the man she had married four years ago.

"I came to take you home." he added.

Norma shook his head.

"Sam, I sent you divorce papers." she said with a shaky voice. "You need to leave."

"I know. I got the papers, baby." he sighed. "Let me in so we can talk."

~ Norma was uneasy with Sam in her home. The big man seemed out of place among her comfortable mismatched furniture. He sat at the kitchen table with Norman on his lap. Father and son seemingly happy to be reunited. Dylan, like his mother, wasn't so easily fooled. He stayed in the living room glaring at his step father with cold, angry eyes.

"Everything is so nice here." Sam told her after a while.

"Thank you." she said softly. She glanced at Dylan who looked too much like his real father at that moment.

"Sam. I want you to sign the-"

"I quit drinking, baby." Sam interrupted. "I went through detox and I haven't had a drink since the night that asshole arrested me. I know I was wrong. I was wrong to drag you and the boys up here, I was wrong to make you live the way we did. I was wrong to treat you like I did. I'm in AA now and I go every night. I've even started going to church and I want you and the boys to come to services with me."

Norma leaned back against the kitchen counter.

' _Don't be fooled_.' the darkness in her mind said. The black bird that perched itself on her shoulder was always so negative, always mean, but she knew it was right. ' _Men like him don't change. How can you tell if a man is lying, dummy?'_

She shook her head.

"You look really good, Sam." she honestly. "But the boys and I, we've made a life here and we're going to stay."

Sam grinned like she didn't know what she was talking about. A grin that said he was just humoring her.

"You can't keep a boy away from his father, Norma." he said. He held Norman tighter and the little boy looked up at her.

Norma swallowed hard.

"Look, I have a good job now." Sam told her. "There's going to be money now for a real home and a decent car and-"

"Strip clubs?" Norma accused harshly. "Whores?"

Sam's face went hard.

"That's what the bench warrant was for, right?" she asked. Her heart was beating hard in her chest. Part of it was fear, part of it was remembering the humiliation of Romero telling her what her husband had been up to. She replayed the image of Deputy Romero, a man who so gently held Dylan'a hand to cross the street, arresting her drunk husband and laughed. She couldn't help it. She loved it too much.

"It wasn't what you thought, Norma." Sam said through gritted teeth.

"What was I supposed to think, Sam?" Norma snapped. She was glad her anger was aroused. Glad her own teeth were bared like a cornered animal. "After everything you've done to me, the fact you got arrested at a strip club for fighting is the least shocking."

He stood up and little Norman fell from his lap. The toddler starting to cry at the unexpected injury.

"Norman!" his mother went to him but Sam pushed her off.

"Don't you baby him!" he barked. He pushed her away from coming to her son's aide. The shove was so violent that Norma hit the kitchen counter. She winced at the pain and was sure there would be yet another bruise from Sam on her body. "You need to go pack your things. My family is coming home with me now."

"No, we're not, you pathetic asshole! We stopped being your family a month ago." Norma spat.

Sam slapped her. His long, ape like arms reached out and made perfect contact with her face. Norma never remembered being struck so hard. Never remembered the sting of it. Never remembered the total humiliation of being hit in the face.

Maybe she had just forgotten what it felt like to be hurt by someone she once loved. Maybe her new life had been just a fleeting illusion and this was reality.


	13. Chapter 13

13.

~ Alex always had a gift for noticing things. Ever since he was very young he noticed little things about people they thought no one else did. He noticed when his mother didn't wash her hair or when she stopped eating. That it always meant she was about to go into one of her dark spells. He noticed when the other kids started avoiding him at school because his father was the Sheriff. How it meant that one of their dad's had been arrested and Alex had to take the blame for it on the playground. He noticed when Wilson stopped going to his regular barber and regretted it. When the girl at coffee shop broke up with her boyfriend, she started wearing shorter skirts to work everyday.

So it was nothing at all for Alex to notice a strange car parked outside of Norma Bates' house during his drive home from work. Especially when he was looking for anything off.

He had spent the week riding with Shelby, or Shelby riding with him and Graceland. He discovered he actually didn't dislike the younger man at all. He just didn't want him to date Norma Bates or be involved with her in any way. Other than that, the two men got along well enough. They talked about sports and fishing and cars. The three topics that were always a safe zone for any kind of male bonding.

After work, as soon as it was dark, Alex drove down the treelined lane where Norma's little house was. He saw the strange red car sitting in her driveway. The rain had started and became so thick he could barely make out the license plate. Before he could think too much about it, there was an all units call coming in over dispatch. A stabbing at the local bar, possible attempted homicide. Wilson was out of town for some kind of meeting and Romero, newly minted as first deputy, had the honor of being present for all the important calls.

"Have Shelby meet me there." Romero ordered and turned back into town. There would be no rest for him that evening until statements were taken and someone was in handcuffs.

The scene at the bar had been chaotic. Keith Summers was his usual drunken mess. For once he wasn't the instigator. A local woman had stabbed her husband in the back with a kitchen knife. Accusing him of being unfaithful to her while he bled out on the bar floor.

It was an awful mess and Romero along with half the department had to control the scene for at least two hours till the coroner could come and collect the body.

It was midnight before Romero released the scene back to the bar owners. The storm outside already picking up and promising to be epic.

"Better get home, deputy!" Keith Summers sneered at him before waddling away into the dark forest. Alex had no idea where the town drunk stashed his old truck. He knew he wasn't allowed to drive anymore. Summer's license had been suspended for over a year ago. He also know that Summers had ways around it.

Alex had forgotten about Norma in the rush to get home before the real storm hit. Graceland didn't like the hard rain and lighting this time of year. Not understanding that in the springtime, you needed the heavy rains to wash off the last chill of winter.

She was pacing the house and making uneasy groaning noises as the storm started it's big blow.

"Easy, girl." Alex said calmly.

He went to the top shelf above the fridge for the whisky bottle and started drinking. Alex wasn't a beer man, never had been. Instead, he favored the hard stuff. The kind of drink that was effective after only a glass or two. Romero never drank on duty but as soon as he was off the clock, he was quick to numb himself. It had been his practice since that Sunday morning he found his mother dead.

He relaxed in his favorite chair with Graceland resting at his feet. Alex was still troubled about what Rebecca had said to him, how no one wanted him. How no one would put up with him. Those words had stung. Partly because he knew it was true. Since his mother died, since that sunny, summer day, he'd been so bitter and angry at the world.

He closed his eyes and his thoughts turned to his mother. In a few short months it would be another anniversary of her passing. He glanced over at the picture on his desk. It was the only photograph he had in the house. Its frame was basic and minimal so not to detract from the subject.

Alex was roughly three when it was taken. His mother, always a stunning and almost regal beauty, was holding him in her lap and both of them were smiling. It had been a good time in their lives. His father was still a good man who was respected, and whatever demons his mother would battle later, they hadn't found her yet.

It was when the real locals of White Pine Bay called Alex Romero 'Little Bear' and he had liked that. He remembered walking downtown with his father and everyone would wave at the local Sheriff and ask him how his 'cub' was. His father smiling and holding fast to Alex's hand.

"This old bear is nothing without his cub." he would say.

"Are you going to be Sheriff someday just like your old man, Little Bear?" people would ask him.

The child that Alex used to be would only nod shyly and his father would laugh.

"Watch out!" he teased his friends. "Alex will arrest everyone."

It was the only time in his life Alex was proud to be his father's son. He couldn't remember the exact cause, but everything seemed to collapse after those days.

He wasn't sure when sleep came for him. Only that his dream became fightingly real. So real he could smell the grass in the hot summer air. He could feel the heat from the sun on his shoulders as he walked to the house where he would find his mother's body. He could hear the sound the floor made when he walked across it. The squeak of the hardwood and the vibration under his feet that was only found in those older homes.

Knowing what he would find, but incapable of diverting his path, Alex went to her bedroom. The curtains and bedclothes were yellow, just as he knew they would be. His mother loved the color yellow and applied it liberally to all her decorating. He registered the way the homemade curtains floated up from the summer breeze that stole into the open window before his eyes fell on his mother.

Her black hair was smoothed out off her face and she laid curled comfortably on her side. Her eternal sleep looking natural in this cheery bedroom. Alex heard the floor creak when he moved. He heard himself call out to her and stopped when he saw how blue her lips were. How gray her skin was. He was shaking her awake, calling to her. Her night dress was yellow and sleeveless for summer. Alex felt how cold her skin was. His mother was never cold to the touch. In that instant, he knew she was dead.

Everything else had always been a blur. Dragging her out of bed and performing CPR. A futile endeavor that would haunt him for years at the memory of her cold lips on his. She wouldn't wake up. She wouldn't take in air. He didn't even remember calling the ambulance when she refused to open her eyes no matter how hard he begged.

But this time…. this time things shifted. The yellow was washed away to a soft blue. A blue Alex liked because it wasn't a sad color. It was a cheerful blue that promised…. something. Promised a future for him if he would only take hold of it.

He turned to the bed and instead saw someone else there. Another woman in a beautiful sleep of death. Her body curled up in that same eternal slumber. Her perfectly formed lips were tainted blue and her porcelain skin was a chalk like gray.

Alex was breathing hard when he touched her cold skin.

"Norma?" he whispered in disbelief.

Norma Bates' eyes fluttered open. They were no longer that beautiful color her had so admired. They no longer sparked with a blazing fire that could never die. Now, they were washed out from the touch of death.

"Help us." she whispered to him.

Then her eyes closed forever.

~ Alex felt his whole body jolt awake. It was as if he'd been struck by lighting and it was a painful sensation. He could still smell the summer grass, still hear the creaking of the wood floors in the house he grew up in. He still felt his mother's cold lips on his when he tried to revive her. Most of all, he knew Norma Bates and her sons were in danger.

He stood up and looked at the mantle clock above the fireplace. It was almost 3am and it was pouring rain outside. Should he call Norma Bates? No, he didn't even have her number here at his house.

Graceland sat looking at him expectantly. Giving a whine of worry about his behavior and the storm outside.

He couldn't drive over to her house. He'd been drinking and with all this rain…

Yet, as soon as the idea to go over to her little house entered his mind, it was all he could do to not run to his SUV and drive there as fast as he could. Graceland didn't like to be left behind, but Alex knew that Norma didn't like the dog. There was always the chance, however small, that the smaller child, Norman, might be hurt if Graceland got spooked by the storm to. It was best she stay at the house.

The rain was horrific that night. The worst Alex had seen in a while. There was lighting and he knew parts of the roads would surely be flooded out. He turned on the flashing overhead lights to other cars would see his police SUV better and let him pass. No one else was stupid enough to drive anywhere on a night like this.

Alex didn't feel drunk as he quickly maneuvered down the secluded lanes that would eventually lead to Norma's house. His body and mind felt more alive and more awake than he had ever remembered before.

His SUV skated to a halt just outside of the house and he was quick to kill the flashing lights overhead. Maybe it was his police instincts, or someone watching over him. Guiding him in a strange way he wasn't used to.

To his horror, Alex saw a small figure dart out of Norma's garage and race up to his SUV.

The rain was pounding over the child as if to wash him away. Alex unlocked the passenger side door and the little boy, drenched to the bone, jumped in.

"Dylan?" Alex asked before he fully took in the picture of what this innocent creature had been through.

The little boy's teeth were chattering from the wet and the cold. Something was terribly wrong. Norma would never allow her child out in this weather. Her oldest son didn't even have shoes on. Why wasn't he in the house? Where was Norma?

Wordlessly, Alex reached in the back seat to find an extra jacket for the boy to put on. Dylan allowed Romero to help him wrap up against the cold, wet night. He still said nothing except to allow his jaw to quiver from the cold.

"What happened?" Alex asked in a clam and steady voice. He put a hand on the boys shoulder and saw the child look back at him. "Tell me what's happening. Where's your mother?"

"He…. " Dylan stammered. "He came back."

Alex blinked.

" **Who** came back?" the deputy demanded.

Dylan looked ready to cry.

"He came back… he wouldn't let mom…. he wouldn't let us leave." Dylan explained feebly.

A dread, colder than the rain outside washed over Alex. He knew exactly who was in that house.

"Stay in the car, Dylan." he told the boy. "No matter what happens no matter how sacred you get, you stay in the car. I'm going to lock you in and I'm going to get your mom and your little brother."

Dylan nodded and looked ready to start crying. Alex removed the shot gun that was stowed in the back seat.

"It's going to be okay, Son." he said to the boy. "I'll be right back."

Outside, the rain was punishing. Alex was quickly soaked through before he even got to the house. He was used to it. You couldn't live, work and play in this area without learning to accept the rain. He spied into the windows of the house and saw the place was a wreck. Not the normal chaos of raising small boys, but a wreck that meant something terrible had happened.

He saw the kitchen table was turned over and chairs were thrown into the living room. Alex had never been inside of Norma's house before, but he knew she wasn't the type to toss furniture around.

Rather than go to the front door, Alex went to the back. He saw the kitchen lights were all on and there was a man walking through; angrily kicking an overturned chair. Alex would recognize him anywhere.

Sam Bates looked the same as he did the night Alex first arrested him.

' _So, we're doing this again._ ' Alex thought bitterly. The deputy ducked down when Sam Bates walked past the window and into the living room where he collapsed on the couch to watch TV; a bored look on his face.

The back door to the house lead directly to the bedrooms and was out of sight of the living room. Alex was surprised that it was left unlocked. He half expected to have to crawl through the boy's window or worse, break down the front door.

Sam was watching TV at full volume and Alex couldn't see where Norma and the youngest child were. The rest of the house felt hushed and expectant.

He peered into the boys room and saw it was empty. The back bedroom, Norma's room, had an overturned lamp on the floor. Its light was casting odd shadows across the room. He caught his breath when he saw Norma through the open bedroom door. She was sitting perfectly still in front of her closet door.

Alex crept down the hall, his movements on the hardwood floor making a troublesome creak that was all too familiar.

Norma Bates was sitting on the floor of her bedroom. What wasn't bruised on her face was red from crying. She had her slim, attractive legs folded under her and her skirt smoothed neatly down.

He almost said something to her. Tell her Dylan was safe and not to be worried about the shot gun in his hand, but stopped when he saw her more clearly.

She was clutching her left arm to her chest. Cradling it against potential damage. Alex could see the broken bone protruding out of her skin. He felt his heart almost stop beating at the sight of her. She had been brutally beaten; both in body and in spirt. She was in too much pain to even cry now. Her face was like she was in a trance. As if she had left her body so she might survive this night.

Alex was at her side in a second.

"Norma?" he whispered.

She didn't look at him.

"Norma, I'm here now. It's okay. It's going to be okay." he said.

She still didn't look at him. Her eyes were filling with tears again. They were a blue that reminded him of being lost a sea. A terrible storm where he knew they would all be lost.

"Norma, it's Alex. Please?" he pleaded for her to acknowledge him.

She wasn't there. Her breathing was hard from the pain and who knew what else. Alex ran a hand through her hair and she closed her eyes at the contact. His hand reached her face, the unbruised part, and she leaned into his gentle contact.

"Where's Norman?" he whispered to her. She opened her eyes again and he saw she was dead inside.

"Where's Norman?" he asked again.

Everything went dark

Alex stood up when the storm knocked the power out. He heard the TV in the living room snap off and now the only noise was the rain outside.

"Fucking bitch!" Sam shouted and Alex could hear the footsteps on the floor. Feel the vibrations of the big man coming to them.

Norma started to cry softly. Her slight body hunched over her compound fracture.

Alex had seen enough.

Without hesitation, he left Norma in her bedroom and met her husband in the kitchen.

It was still dark in the house. The only light was coming from outside and the storm obscured even that. Yet, Alex could see Sam Bates well enough to do what had to be done. If he didn't do this, Norma would never be free no matter what lies she told herself to the contrary.

Sam stopped when he saw Alex standing there. A look of surprise on his stupid face.

"What… what are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"Hello, Sam." Alex said casually.

"Who the fuck are you?" Sam accused. His voice rising in confused anger.

"I'm Deputy Alex Romero. We met the last time you were in my town. You should have stayed in Arizona, Sam. You shouldn't have come back." Alex told him casually.

"What?" Sam asked.

"And you really shouldn't have hurt her." Alex finished before raising the shot gun, cocking it back, and firing.

The blast was enough to momentarily illuminate the kitchen and see Sam thrown down back.

Alex watched with mild fascination as Norma's husband bled to death choking and gaging in the near darkness. It was an uncomfortable way to die, but Alex watched the process. He watched Sam Bates die in Norma's kitchen.

 **Sorry there wasn't an update yesterday. I had homework. I hadn't been in school, REAL school in over ten ten years now and I just wasn't used to the amount of homework I had to do. I CAN NOT promise there will be a daily update anymore. I know this is a revised thing, but it still takes me at least two hours to do and I'm sometimes assigned two chapters to read, a few open book quizzes to complete and a new muscle to learn the IOA of a DAY.**

 **Yeah! Massage Therapy School! Plus I have to be in bed before 9pm so I can wake up before 5am and drive 2 hours!**


	14. Chapter 14

14.

~ Outside, the storm had reached an epic scale. The only phone in the house was torn from the wall and Alex had been forced to run back out into the bedlam of rain and wind.

He reached the SUV, unlocked it and found Dylan was safely where he left him.

"Dylan, your mom's okay." Alex lied to the boy with an effortless smile. "You did a good job flagging me down like you did."

Dylan nodded but the child looked unconvinced.

"Remember that?" Alex prompted. "Remember how you ran out into the street when you saw my truck? You told me there was a bad man in your house? How your mom was hurt? That was the right thing to do and I'm very proud of you."

Dylan nodded again and Alex hoped the child would repeat the story when questioned later by Wilson.

The deputy quickly grabbed the radio and called into dispatch.

"This is Romero. I need an ambulance to number 13 Pine Valley Lane." he said loudly into the mouth piece. The wrath of the storm outside was picking up now.

"Alex? What the hell?" the dispatcher called back.

"Dispatch, I have an injured woman, a missing child and a dead suspect at number 13 Pine Valley Lane. Get me an ambulance and some back up now." Alex said calmly. "And wake up Sheriff Wilson." he added grimly.

~ In a few hours, the storm had blown it's last angry breath. It left the air feeling cleaner somehow. As if it needed to create so much destruction before it could make things better. Like a child throwing a temper tantrum, suddenly becoming sweet and remorseful for it's bad behavior.

"I didn't want to be in the house." Dylan explained to Sheriff Wilson. "He was yelling so loud at mom. I didn't like it."

The older man had been feeding the little boy thin mint cookies he'd bought from his granddaughters girl scout troop. Ever time Dylan finished something difficult, he was rewarded with a fresh cookie.

"I hid in the garage for a long time. I heard my mom shouting and screaming a lot. I was scared." Dylan said.

"Son, did you call anyone?" Sheriff Wilson asked. "On the phone maybe?"

Dylan shook his head.

"We never called the police before. Back in Arizona. We would have gotten in trouble if we did. Anyway, he ripped our phone out of the wall and hit my mom with it. He hit her in the face when she told him she was calling the police." the boy said.

Wilson gave him another cookie.

"So how did Deputy Romero know to come here I wonder?" Wilson asked.

Dylan shrugged.

"I saw his truck. I ran out into the road and waved at him to stop." Dylan said slowly. "He stopped and let me in his truck. I told him Sam was in our house and that my mom was hurt."

Wilson gave him another cookie.

"Then what happened?"

"He put a coat on me so I wouldn't be cold." Dylan said sadly. "Then he told me to stay put and not to leave till he came back."

Wilson gave him another cookie.

"Well, your mom's going to be okay because of you. You saved her life. You're a very brave young man, Dylan." he said. "I think I might have to deputize you when you're grown."

"Okay," Dylan said easily.

"You have to finish school first. So it may be a few years." Wilson added.

"Okay." Dylan said with a nod.

~ Alex knelt in front of Norma while the paramedics tried to take her blood pressure.

She started to cry when her non injured arm was moved even slightly.

"No. No. Please. Please don't do it." she cried in detached dead tone. Her voice like that of a child, while fat tears dropped out of her eyes.

Alex winced at the sight of her once beautiful face. Sam had put deep bruised all along her right side. Her eye was swollen and her lip was split.

"Norma, they need to take you to the hospital. Let them take your blood pressure," he said as gently as he knew how.

Norma refused to move. Her mind seemed completely gone and her expression was blank.

The paramedic looked at Romero for what to do.

"I can't even asses her if she wont respond. It might hurt her worse if we try to move her." she said.

Alex looked over Norma's injuries. There was blood on her shirt and skirt. Then there was her horrible broken arm with the bone sticking sickeningly out of the skin.

"She's in shock and we need to get her on the stretcher now." the paramedic advised.

Alex reached out a hand to touch Norma's uninjured face again. His palm gently running over her hair and cupping her cheek. Like before, her eyes closed and she leaned into his touch. He leaned in close to her so that his lips were close to her ear.

"Norma, it's okay. You're safe now." he whispered. "He's dead. I promise he's dead. You're safe."

He could feel her breathing relax under his hand and her eyes stayed closed.

"We have a stretcher here. I want you to get on it." he whispered gently.

He watched in fascination as her eyes fluttered opened again and she turned to the waiting paramedic. Her focus seeming to have returned. Her eyes were briefly lit with a fire that meant she was still herself.

"Mrs. Bates?" the paramedic asked hopefully. "Can you lay down on the stretcher for me? We're here to help you."

Norma looked back at Alex in a daze. He could tell she was wanting to go back under again. Wanting to retreat to that place where there was no pain.

"Norma?" he said calmly. She opened her eyes to look directly at him.

"I want you to get on the stretcher for me. Please." he ordered her with a firm but gentle voice.

She seemed confused but eventually submitted to his instructions. Her body looking broken with all the bruises to her legs he hadn't seen before. It took her a long time to maneuver onto the waiting stretcher. Her injuries no doubt making any movement painful. Alex and the paramedic tried to help, but were afraid to touch her for fear of hurting her even more. Eventually, she managed to lay down and Alex was quick to cover her body up with a warm blanket. The Paramedic started taking her vitals.

"Where's Norman? Where's your son?" he asked in a hurried whisper. His face was inches from hers and he could hear her labored breathing but not her voice.

"Dylan is safe, where is Norman?" Alex asked again. He tried to keep his voice calm, he didn't want to frighten her any more than she already was.

She just stared back at him. Her mind falling back into that abyss where she was without knowledge of the evils of this world.

"Deputy, we have to take her." the paramedic said.

"Make sure the other child doesn't see her like this, or the body. Keep the door closed." Alex ordered. The last thing he needed was for Dylan to be further traumatized by seeing Sam's corpse on the floor of his mother's kitchen. It was bad enough the fat pig bled more that normal and everyone had to step around the large mess of blood.

Alex knew Wilson was talking to Dylan about what happened and that the other officers were combing through the house and woods for a missing two year old. The power was still out and flashlights shone through the darkness in search of the toddler.

In the horrible storm, Norman could have easily been killed.

Alex threw open the closet door and pulled back Norma's dresses to look for the missing boy. Her closet was neatly organized with vintage fashion and modest outfits. Her shoes all placed on the floor for her to use when she dressed. Even her dirty clothes hamper was tucked neatly away and out of sight. Alex, rooted around the closet and turned up empty handed. No child was hidden there.

The deputy went on hands and knees then to look under the bed and found it was likewise clean and no indications of a child.

"Find anything, Alex?" Wilson asked when the Sheriff came into the bedroom.

"Nothing!" Alex spat in frustration.

"We've looked in every closet now." Wilson said. His brother hasn't seen Norman in hours. We need to consider that the lady's youngest ran outside like Dylan did."

"No." Alex shook his head. "I won't believe that. The storm was strong enough that it would kill a two year old."

"We're knocking on all the neighbors doors." Sheriff Wilson said. "Maybe he found shelter there."

"Norma, the boy's mother, the was sitting in front of this closet. She refused to move even after help had arrived." Alex argued. "I thought he had to have been in there. She must have been protecting him from his father."

The deputy pointed to the empty closet. His mind was racing over all the places a two year old could hide and stay hidden.

"We have to find him, Sheriff." Alex said at last.

"We will." Wilson told him calmly.

There was a moment of silence as both men stood in Norma Bates' bedroom. Her things broken and torn by her husband's rage were scattered on the floor around them. The Sheriff turned and gently closed the bedroom door so they were alone.

"Deputy." Wilson said gravely. "Tell me what happened."

Alex shrugged.

"I was headed to the store and I took a wrong turn in the rain." he said casually. "I ended up on Pine Valley Lane and saw Mrs. Bates youngest child running towards me. I pulled over and let him inside the SUV. He told me Mrs. Bates' estranged husband was in the house. That he was afraid."

Wilson nodded.

"That is almost exactly what Dylan said." the Sheriff mused. "Word for word."

"Well, when two stories from different people match, I guess it's true." Alex shrugged.

"Why the hell were you going to the store in the middle of this storm at this time of night, Deputy?" Wilson asked.

Alex sighed.

"I had a female visitor and I had run out of…. precautionary items." Alex said tactfully.

Sheriff Wilson nodded.

"Must have been a bad itch to go out in this storm." he said. "I won't mention the smell of whisky on your breath, or the fact you're not the kind of man who makes a rubber run like a high school kid."

"Thank you, Sheriff." Alex retorted.

"Because certain people would ask why you took it upon yourself to come here otherwise." Wilson added. "Might even think it's odd you were the one to kill her husband."

Alex glared back at him.

"Certain people." Sheriff Wilson said. "Not me. I saw the way you looked at that woman when her son ran into the street that day. Just please tell me you shot her husband in self defense, Alex."

"I shot Sam Bates in defense of myself, Mrs. Bates and her son." Romero said coldly.

"You announced yourself as police when you entered the home?"

"I did." Alex said.

Wilson looked at him for a long time.

"Keep looking for the child, Alex." he said. "And make sure you stick to that story."

~ Sheriff Wilson has the fire department and search dogs at the house on Pine Valley Lane to search for the missing two year old. Alex watched Norma loaded safely into the ambulance just as Zac Shelby arrived on the scene.

"Is she going to be okay?" he asked Alex.

Romero glared at the younger man. He seemed genuinely concerned about Norma.

"She has a broken arm, maybe a concussion." he told Shelby.

"But is she going to be alright?" Zac demanded.

"I'm not a doctor." Alex said curtly. "Right now, we have a missing two year old."

"Norman?" Zac asked.

"Yes. He might have wandered into the storm when all of this was happening. His brother was outside earlier. Search teams are already in the woods with dogs. I think he might still be in the house. We need to find him." Romero told him.

Romero and Shelby tore the house apart as Sam's body was photographed and documented.

It was odd how the sight of a man he had killed lay three feet away and Alex wasn't bothered by it.

"Awful lot of blood." the crime scene investigator mused. "I bet he was on blood thinners. That always makes them bleed out everywhere."

"Didn't ask about his medications when he tried to kill me." Alex snapped. He and Shelby pulled back the couch and found nothing.

"Where else could he hide?" Shelby breathed helplessly. "He's only two. He should have cried out by now."

Alex nodded. Power was still out in the house and it was hard to search with just flashlights.

"Romero?" Shelby said at last. "What if he was hurt? He could have been knocked out."

"His mother was sitting in front of her bedroom closet and she refused to move. It was like she was guarding something." Alex said out loud. "She refused to move even when the paramedics arrived."

They went back to look at the closet and found nothing. Again.

"Look under everything." Alex ordered. He and Shelby turned Norma's bed over, her mattress tipped on its side and her dresser pulled from the wall.

"Alex." Zac said. "He must have run out into the storm. A two year old in all that wind and rain?"

"I can't tell his mother her son's as good as dead." Alex said quickly. "Keep looking."

Alex felt that same current that told him to drive in the storm to Norma Bates' house keep pulling him to her bedroom closet.

"He's not there. We've both looked." Shelby told him.

Alex shook his head.

"No." he said. "It doesn't add up. She was protecting this closet. She was protecting this closet with her life."

Romero opened the double doors to the closet again and pulled out Norma's dresses and other clothes. He took out her laundry hamper and pulled out her shoes.

"Romero?" Shelby asked when Alex was back on his hands and knees feeling at the floor of the closet.

Alex's heart started to race when he felt the loosened floorboards at the back of the closet.

"Zac!" he called when he lifted up each piece of the wooden floorboards and found Norman was sleeping peacefully in a little nest of blankets his mother no doubt made for him. A little toy dog was nestled in his arms. The toddler opened his eyes when Alex shone his flashlight on him.

"Mo-her?" he asked weekly.

"It's okay, son." Alex breathed in relief. "I'm going to take you to see your mom."

He turned to Shelby.

"Grab a blanket! I have to take him through the kitchen and I don't want him to see the body." he ordered.

"Is he hurt?" Zac asked when Alex gently lifted Norman out of the confined space under the closet. "She hid him under the floor?"

"Her husband was beating her, Zac." Romero said bitterly. "She's a mother. A mother always protects her child first."

Norman eagerly latched onto Alex's body, in need of the warmth and security of another person. Romero wrapped the toddler up in the extra blanket and made sure to cover his face so he wouldn't have to see his father, dead on the kitchen floor. He felt relief at finding the child alive and well, but there was also a happiness at the way the little boy latched onto him he wasn't expecting. He had never had a child this young want to make contact with him. Norma wrapped his arms around Romero's neck and leaned his head on his shoulder as if they were old friends.

Shelby went ahead of them and called for the waiting paramedics who were expecting to just find the body of Norman Bates this morning.

"Your mom's fine, Norman." Alex said gently when they stepped outside. The child remaining mute and numb to what he'd experienced that night. Unwilling to let go of Romero even after he was safely in the ambulance. Alex having to ride with him to the hospital and carry him inside.

 **Sorry for no updates everyday. Had to study but I passed by first quiz and I'm feeling much more confident about my class now! Thank you so much for all the feedback on my re-write for this story! There will be major changes and not minor ones like these. These were a lot I liked and a lot I didn't like about this story.**


	15. Chapter 15

15.

~ Norma woke up in the hospital. She didn't know then that she had endured a four hour surgery to fix her broken arm. Didn't understand right away that it had been so badly broken, to have even required surgery.

She only felt the dull ache of her body and her arm as she surfaced out of unconsciousness. The glare of the harsh florescent lights hurting her eyes felt like needles were stabbing them.

"Norma?" came a voice and she flinched at the sound.

Zac Shelby's face swam out of her blurred vision and she felt oddly afraid of him.

"Don't. Don't hurt us. Please." she whimpered and tried to move away.

"Norma, I'd never hurt you." Zac whispered. "You're safe now. I'm right here."

His hands were on hers then and they were gentle. Her eyes focused on his face and the idea of the man behind the face came back to her.

"Zac." she spat out as if she were a small child still learning his name.

"Yes, baby." he said kindly. His face looked relived she even recognized him.

"Dylan. Where's Dylan? Is he with you?" she asked. A sickly panic was flooding her body and sending chills down her spine.

"Dylan's fine. He's fine." Zac promised quickly.

Norma's mind was racing. A horrible, sharp pain in her arm was making it hard to concentrate. No matter how much she tried to push it away, it wouldn't be ignored.

"Wait. Wait." she panted from the pain. "Norman? Norman. I hid him. I hid him."

"We found him." Zac said quickly. "Norman is perfectly safe. Norma, he didn't see anything. He's safe, I promise."

Norma nodded but let out a slight cry from the pain in her arm. She couldn't help it. Why wouldn't it go away? What was wrong? Why was her vision fuzzy? Why did her head hurt? Why were the lights so bright? What had happened?

"Nurse!" barked another voice that was bossy and almost menacing.

Zac was still holding Norma's hand when she turned to see Romero enter her hospital room. He looked angry, but that was nothing new. When the nurse hurried in behind him, he pointed to Norma.

"This woman is in pain, she needs her medication. **Now**." Romero ordered.

"I'll have to find the doctor. She woke up sooner than expected." the nurse stammered.

"Then find him!" Romero commanded. "Now!"

The nurse hurried away and Norma winced as another sharp wave of pain hit her. She squirmed uncomfortably in her hospital bed. Even when she was in labor with Dylan, the pain wasn't this bad.

"Don't worry, they're getting you something." Zac was saying eager to be of comfort.

Norma wasn't listing to him. She found it hard to breathe. Romero stepped closer to her bed and she let go of Zac to reach for him. She only had the one arm to work with, and Deputy Romero, safe and secure as always, took her hand.

She felt the smoothed over calluses of Romero's fingers and palms hold her steady when she tried to move to a less painful position.

"It was Sam." she gasped. "He… he just showed up at the house. I tried to call… he ripped the phone… out of the wall!"

She was ashamed of the tears that started to fall. Ashamed of the way her voice trembled. She was more angry that it had happened at all. That once again, Sam had hurt her.

"I know." Romero whispered with surprising gentleness. "Its over now."

"He did this!" Norma cried pitifully.

She saw, even with her blurred vision, Romeo give Zac a hard look and nod to leave. She felt Zac lean over her and kiss her cheek. She winced slightly at the contact. Apart of her still fearful of any intimate touch.

"I'll be right outside." he whispered. "I'll check on the boys to."

Both Norma and Romero were silent till Shelby left. As soon as they were alone, Norma started to talk and couldn't stop.

"I… I should have listened to you. I should have signed that restraining order like you told me to." she cried.

Romero kept her hand safely locked in his. His grasp was stronger than Shelby's and yet, fell short of being too hard.

"Don't apologize." he told her in a soft voice she wasn't used to associating with him. "I'm the one who's sorry. I should have protected you better."

Norma felt the pain start to pull her body apart. She gasped and held fast to his hand to help ease the strain. Romero let her hold onto him like a lifeline. Recognizing she needed him, if only for this. She gripped ahold of his hand and breathed out the sharp flare that shot through her arm. Romero, patient and supportive until her breathing relaxed again.

"It was so stupid to let him in the house. I'm so stupid." she said once the pain eased a little.

"Never call yourself that again." Romero ordered. It was the same tone he used to talk the nurse before. A command that had to be obeyed. "Sam did this to you. You did nothing wrong, Norma."

She didn't believe him; but she wanted to.

"Are you sure Dylan and Norman are okay?" she asked weakly. She looked up at him imploringly. Like a child still wanting to believe in Santa Claus.

"I just got back from the children's ward." Romero told her calmly. His perpetually sad eyes fixed on hers so she knew he told the truth. "I found Norman under the floor of your closet where you hid him. He's fine and doesn't seem to remember a thing. Dylan saw my SUV and waved me down. He saved your life. I think Sheriff Wilson want's to give him a special award."

Norma couldn't register the idea of her oldest getting an award or saving her life. The pain was back. It tore through her body like an angry tiger.

"Oh!" she cried out. She was breathing heavy like she was in labor. Alex griped her hand without asking this time. His other hand grasping gently down her wrist.

"The doctor is coming with some pain meds, Norma." Romero told her. His face showing sympathy to her ordeal as he kept her fingers firmly laced in his.

"Oh! At least Sam's in jail right?" she gasped. "You have evidence to put him away for good?"

He tried to say something, but he only succeeded in looking away from her. His faithful gaze that never lied, seemed to falter.

"Alex?" she asked. She had never used his first name before, but felt like now was the right time to start.

Norma swallowed hard. She knew what happened then. It was written plainly on his face that he didn't want to show her.

"You killed him?" she asked in a whisper.

Alex finally looked back at her. The truth was there and yet, there was no remorse for Sam Bates in his eyes.

"I'm glad." she breathed. "Thank you."

Alex nodded. His eyes never leaving hers until the doctor and Sheriff Wilson arrived in her room.

"Mrs. Bates? You're in pain?" the doctor asked casually. Clearly he didn't care she was in pain or discomfort. He'd seen too many people hurting and had become immune to it.

"Yes!" Norma spat angrily. She had a death lock on Alex with her good hand. The poor deputy's fingers turning slightly white at her abuse.

"Well, you've had a compound break on your arm that required surgery and several pins put in. Also, some broken ribs and extensive bruising." the doctor explained lazily.

"Please!" Norma shouted. "I need something for the pain! NOW!"

The doctor seemed a little startled by her ordering him about, but was quick to nod and produce a syringe for her IV.

Wilson stepped forward to her.

"Before the drugs kick in, I need to ask you what happened, Mrs. Bates." the Sheriff said.

"My… my estranged husband showed up at my house unannounced. He told me he was taking me back to Arizona." Norma gasped. "When…I- I said no, he started… hitting me. He was going to kill me. I hid my son Norman under the floor of my closet, but my other son Dylan ran away."

"Your boys are both safe, Mrs. Bates." Sheriff Wilson assured her. "But I need to ask you some more questions."

The drugs were working quickly. Norma felt the pain that gripped her loosen and she likewise relaxed her hold on Alex's hand. She had to make Sheriff Wilson understand. Alex couldn't get into trouble for killing Sam. Sam Bates wasn't worth Alex going to prison, getting fired or even disciplined over.

"My husband was going to… he was going to kill me." she cried. The drugs were making her feel slow and stupid. "He said he was going to kill me and my sons. He tried to kill… to kill all of us. We would be dead… we would all be dead… if… if…"

She remembered nothing else. A warm darkness took her under and she felt Alex let her go.

~ When she woke up again, her whole body felt heavy, and sleepy. She heard smacking from nearby and saw Sybil Lawson sitting next to her eating fried chicken.

"Is this real?" Norma asked, then wondered if she had said that out loud. She felt slightly stoned and wasn't sure if the old bug eyed woman wasn't just apart of some strange dream.

"For the third time, **yes**." Sybil sighed in annoyance. "You've been in and out all day from the drugs they gave you. Whatever it is, I want some."

Norma grinned. She had no idea what her grandmother was saying.

"You're eyes are really big." she told her social worker.

"You told me that already to." Sybil sighed. "I brought you some chicken. You said you were hungry."

"Okay." Norma sighed contentedly.

She looked down at her arm.

"I broke my arm." she told the older woman with mild indifference.

"Your late husband broke your arm, dear." Sybil told her.

"What's he late for?" Norma asked curiously.

Sybil grinned with her nicotine stained teeth.

"Sam broke into you house a few days ago and tried to kill you, Norma." the older woman said. "Eat your lunch. You haven't been awake enough to put anything in your stomach and with the drugs you've been talking crazy."

"Oh." Norma said. She took a piece of warm bread and started eating it. It felt good to eat something. Her mind becoming a little clearer once the task of food was assigned to it.

"You told Zac Shelby he was a pretty little girl earlier this morning." Sybil laughed. "The poor young man brought you flowers and everything. He looked so worried about you and you just smiled and said he was the prettiest little girl you'd ever seen."

"Oh." Norma said carelessly.

She was eating her chicken a small piece at a time. It was hard to eat with one hand.

"Shelby?" she asked.

"Yes. You know I think, that he thinks, that he's your boyfriend. He looks a little too young in my opinion." Sybil huffed. "I need a man with experience. I'm not about to teach the guy anything. He better go in there knowing what to do, or he's out."

She waved her thumb like an umpire calling a hitter out.

"Oh." Norma said. Her mind was starting to focus a little more and she started to remember things a little better. Eating was helping.

"I ran into Little Bear and the Sheriff in the parking lot. Told them what you said to Shelby. I don't think I've ever seen Alex so happy since before his mother died." Sybil went on.

"His mother died?" Norma asked in surprise.

"Yes." Sybil sighed. "You know, Little Bear did a number on your estranged husband. "Took crime scene forever to finish up. Sam tried to attack Little Bear, oh sorry, Deputy Romero. And Alex shot him three times." Sybil explained. She held up three fingers for Norma to see.

"It was ruled self defense by the IA, and I think Alex is getting a commendation from the mayor or some such nonsense." Sybil sighed. "How stupid do you have to be to attack a cop after nearly killing your wife? If there was one thing I learned in the 60's, it's cops don't like it when you attack them."

Norma watched as Sybil stood up and pulled a newspaper from her purse. She unfolded it and gently placed it in the hospital tray for Norma to see.

"At least Little Bear made the front page. Every woman in town is going gaga over him after seeing that picture." Sybil said in a sour voice.

Norma looked dumbly at the color picture of Alex holding her son Norman. Her two year old child was wrapped up securely in a warm blanket, his back to the camera and respectfully hidden from view. She recognized the socks she'd put on her son and Norman's thin arms that were wrapped tightly around Alex's neck. Alex, in turn, held Norman close to his chest. His face turned to the child in his arms and his expression angry yet concerned.

She felt a tension that was always in her chest ease slightly. The placement of Alex's hand on Norman's back. It looked so natural, so normal, so... paternal. Anyone who didn't know better would think this was a concerned father carrying his son out of a dangerous situation. She looked over the rest of the picture and hated the fact it was her own house in the background.

Her back door and porch featured prominently in the front page story.

She quickly read all about herself. How Norma Bates, 24, was home alone with her two young sons. Her estranged husband who was in violation of his parole, broke into her home on Pine Valley Lane and assaulted Mrs. Bates. Deputy Alex Romero responded to a distress call made by Mrs. Bates' oldest child. Deputy Romero saw Mrs. Bates had severe injures and Sam Bates was not responding to orders to from the deputy to stop. Deputy Romero was forced to use deadly force in defense of himself and all present.

"So everyone in town knows." Norma said sadly.

"Afraid so." Sybil told her. "But, the local church has already taken up a collection for you and the boys. You'll need it. You can't work till your arm heals and times might be a little thin for you. I think Hillary is going to make sure your panty is stocked, so there's no worry about that."

"Everyone in town knows everything." Norma sighed. "I wanted to start over."

"You cans still start over. You can do even better now. You don't have to worry about a divorce. Now, you're really free." Sybil told her.


	16. Chapter 16

16.

~ Deputy Romero finally visited Mrs. Bates after he got off duty. He left Graceland at home again. Knowing that Norma didn't like the dog, or any dog. He wasn't sure which was worse, the look Graceland gave him at being left behind, or knowing there was someone out there who didn't like dogs.

Sybil had called him that morning to mockingly congratulate him on making the front page. He wasn't sure what she was talking about until he opened his front door and saw the newspaper waiting for him. His entire day had been an endless gauntlet of people staring at him. As soon as he entered a room, people stopped what they were doing, stopped talking and looked at him. He'd never received this kind of attention before and didn't like.

Only Wilson and a few others in the department seemed indifferent to Romero's sudden fame. Clarice, as was her habit, didn't notice that Romero had done anything more than show up to work day in and day out. Washington, a former Marine like Alex, had taken the shooting for what it was. Something that had to be done and was a part of the job.

Shelby seemed the most disturbed and outraged by Sam Bates' death. Calming that Norma never told him Sam had made threats against her. That if he had known, if he had been there instead of Romero that night…

Alex didn't stick around long enough to hear Zac Shelby idle rant about all the violence he would rain down in the name of young and passionate love.

He'd been glad his shift was over and he didn't have to go on patrol. Glad the interview with IA was short and to the point. He only had to write up what happened, which matched the crime scene report and what Dylan had said exactly. Wilson had taken special care with that part.

Sybil had stopped by the office to tell them Norma was awake and feeling better. She would still have to be in the hospital for another day, so the boys would have to stay with Mrs. Barron, a foster mother who had seemed to make it her life's profession to take in wayward strays. Mrs. Barron was a local widow in her late forties, and had been taking in children for years. The town only needing one foster home for it's small population.

"I was hoping you'd go see the boys before Mrs. Barron came and collected them at the hospital. Norman and Dylan dosen't know the woman or me very well. I thought a friendly face might put them at ease." Sybil said with her crafty, knowing little smile.

The old gargoyle sat primly in the chair next to Romero's desk as though she fooled him in her gray dress suit.

"Why can't Shelby do it? He's Dylan's little league coach." Alex asked bitterly.

He leaned back in his chair and didn't miss one of the deputies passing today's newspaper around and having a good laugh at his expense.

"Well, why can't you, Little Bear?" Sybil snapped at him in her harsh voice. "Wasn't it you that got Norma to get on the stretcher? Wasn't it you that Dylan flagged down? Didn't you find that helpless baby and carry him out of the house?"

"Don't." Alex waved a hand up in feeble protest. He knew where Sybil was going with this. He was never going to hear the end of it. Already a few female deputies was giving him a certain look he didn't want to see from any woman. Not to mention the girl with the short skirt at the coffee place.

"Good, so you're going to go see the boys before five? Mrs. Barron is coming at six and I want them to not be scared. Norma's been with them all day but with the pain meds she's on I'm worried Mrs. Barron might have to keep them for a while. It was a very bad broken arm." Sybil said grimly.

Alex remembered the sickly way the bone stuck through Norma's skin and closed his eyes.

"I know." he sighed.

"So. You'll go see the boys, reassure them that it's only for a few days. Mrs. Barron has lots of toys from all the fosters she's taken in over the years. They'll be the only kids there right now which is good." Sybil said efficiently.

Alex let out a long sigh. There was no arguing with Sybil Lawson.

"Oh, and Little Bear?"

"Yes?" he groaned in compliance.

"Go see Norma to. She's depressed enough with all that's happened."

"I don't think she want's to talk tot he man who killed her husband." Alex said darkly and refused to look at the old woman.

"Well, maybe she'll want to talk to the man who rescued her son then." Sybil reminded him tactfully.

She made a swift turn on her heel as an afterthought and said.

"Oh, and leave that dog at home will you? Norma was pretty doped up this morning but she was telling me the most awful story about some child getting his throat chewed out by a police dog when she was little. Sounded absolutely terrifying." The old woman waved her hand at an innocent looking Graceland and walked out of the Sheriff's department like she owned the building.

Lesser beings, as always, jumping out of her way.

~ Alex visited the children's ward first. It was one large room, about the length and with of a basketball court. Only made livable for children by decorating it with menacing clowns and other terrifying cartoons creatures. Alex didn't blame kids for hating it here. Not only did you get poke and prodded, but the whole building smelled funny, they did things to you that hurt, and they you had to look at ugly, ugly decor all day long.

He found the boys were watching cartoons with a little girl on the far end of the ward. The three of them being the only children there in the whole hospital just now.

"Deputy Romero!" Dylan said excitedly and jumped from the bed to greet him.

Alex stopped walking and waved at Dylan, unsure of how to proceed. He was still in uniform, which had gotten him into the children's ward to begin with. No one had asked him if he had a child here and now that he looked back at the charge nurse, she and another nurse were both looking over the front page of today's paper. That horrible picture of him looking like he'd just rescued Norman from the Titanic or something.

"Dylan. How are you and Norman doing?" Alex asked nervously.

"Good. We got to have pizza today and the nurses let us watch all the Disney movies we wanted. We didn't have to go to school either. Our new friend is named Becky and she's having her appendix out and they're gonna let her keep them so no one does voodoo on her. Mom has her arm in a big, funny looking cast. It has a pin in it to help her keep it strait and she said we can color on it when we get home so it's not boring." Dylan said enthusiastically.

"Wow!" Alex said. He was genuinely impressed. The boys were having a better day than he was. The little boy took his hand and lead him over to Norman and their new friend Becky who looked sour and ready to be annoyed.

"Boys, I need to talk to the both of you for a second, will you excuse us?" he nodded to the unfeeling little girl.

She glared at him with large, unblinking eyes as though Romero had personally offended her. In that moment, oddly enough, Alex could see the five year old Becky as a sour, disillusioned teenager and young woman.

"Okay." Alex said uncomfortably, and backed away.

He took Dylan and Norman's hands, Norman easily following Romero and wanting to be close to him after last night. Alex was surprised when, after he knelt down in front of them, Norman wrapped his arms around his neck, just like he'd done last night.

Alex patted the little boy on the back.

"It's okay, son." he whispered. "Boys, you know your mom got hurt last night, right?"

Dylan nodded but Norman's expression remained blank.

"Did your mom explain to you what happened?" Alex asked carefully. He didn't want to tell them the horrible fact that Norman's father, Dylan's step father, was dead. That he'd been the one to shoot him.

"Yeah. Sam came to our house and he was trying to kill mom." Dylan said with wide eyes. "But then you came and I told you what was happening and you put a coat on me so I was warm and then you told Sam not to try and kill mom anymore and Sam would't listen to you. People are supposed to listen to you because you're a police man. Sam wouldn't listen though and he was trying to kill mom some more and so you had to shoot him because he was being a bad guy to mom and police men shoot the bad guys." Dylan said quickly. Norma's oldest took a deep breath and looked slightly shaken. "Mom said that Sam's dead and he's not ever gonna come back. That we don't ever have to be afraid of him again." he whispered.

Alex realized he'd been holding his breath while Dylan was talking. Norma must have told her son's the truth. Told them the truth in a way only a child could understand. Told them so that they wouldn't hate her, or even hate him, but only hate Sam Bates.

"Yes." he said at last. "Sam is dead. He's never coming back. You'll never see him again."

"I'm glad." Dylan said. "Sometimes I have nightmares about him."

"You do?" Alex asked. Both Dylan and Norman nodded.

"Yeah, he used to yell and hit mom a lot back in Arizona. She cried all the time. We used to hide under the bed. I'm glad we never had to do that again. I like it here." Dylan said honestly.

"Good." Alex said feeling a pain in his stomach at the thought of the abuse Norma suffered during her marriage to Sam.

"If another bad man comes to the house and hurts mom will you shoot him to?" Dylan asked innocently.

Alex laughed. He couldn't help it.

"I think Sam is the last bad man that's going to bother you or your mom." he told him.

"Are you going to guard our house now?" Dylan asked.

"Dylan…" Alex said. "No one is going to hurt you or your mom. I promise."

"But… someone did hurt us." Dylan said pitifully.

~ Alex found Norma in her room struggling to put on a blue sweater. He realized it was the same blue sweater she'd worn when he first met her.

"Norma?" he questioned when he saw she was futilely trying to get her good hand into the sleeve. The nurses station was deserted and no one else was there to help.

She turned and he saw the bruises to her face looked surprisingly better. Shockingly better in fact.

"Deputy Romero." she said in a tired voice. "What are you doing here? Where's that dog?"

She eyed the doorway suspiciously.

"I left Graceland at home." Alex said. "Sybil told me something about a kid being attacked by a dog when you were little."

"How did she know about that?" Norma looked outraged that Sybil or he knew anything about her past at all.

"The pain meds, had you saying all kids of things." he explained. They stared at each other, almost untrusting, for a a few seconds. He noticed, belatedly, that his eyes had wandered down her hospital gown. The fabric having a low thread count, and that she apparently hadn't been able to wear a bra under it. He shamefully diverted his eyes when he realized Norma had caught him looking.

"I can't find a nurse, will you help me?" she asked. He voice frustrated she couldn't master something as common place as putting on a sweater.

"Sure." Alex said feeling his cheeks go hot and quickly picked up the threadbare sweater, turning it, turning it again before deciding which way was the right way to put it on her.

"My good arm." she told him. When he stared stupidly at her large cast wondering how he was going to pull the fabric over it.

"Right." Alex said feeling out of place. He helped Norma feed her slender hand and arm through and reached around to bring the sleeve to her bad arm.

"It's good just leave it on my shoulder." she sighed when half of it was in place.

"Okay." he nodded. Happy he'd been able to not completely screw up such a delicate task. She was adjusting the sweater, pulling it into place on her shoulder and he helped to fit it over the horrible looking cast. He saw a large piece of lint and tried to brush it off before realizing, too late, he'd roughly run his hand over her breast a few times.

Alex stopped and looked awkwardly at Norma who glared at him. Her face like stone and her eyes shining like bright gem stones.

"Sorry." he said quickly. "I saw… um… lint."

"Must have been some lint." she said with all the sourness that Becky with appendix surgery would one day possess.

"Yeah, sorry." he said again and looked away. "I-I just came to see how you were." he found himself stuttering.

"Hurting." Norma said plainly.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as she climbed back into bed and pulled the covers over her. Alex was quick to fold another blanket over her and she nodded a silent thanks.

"I can call the nurse. Have them give you something for the pain." he said.  
"No." she said quickly. "It seems I talk out of my head when I'm on the pain meds."

"Sybil didn't mean anything when she told me about the dog attack. She was concerned that's all." Alex said.

"It wasn't anything." Norma said quickly. "Lots of people have fears."

"Still, if you saw a child being attacked by a police dog."

"Killed." Norma corrected somberly. "I saw a child being killed by a police dog."

Alex flinched and waited for her to go on. She took a deep breath.

"What are doing here?" she asked at last.

"I came to see the boys. I don't know if Sybil told you, but they're going to stay with a lady named Mrs. Barron. She's the town's only foster home. She's very good and it's only temporary. Till you're feeling better." Alex said.  
"I'm not…" Norma winced and clutched her arm in obvious pain. "I'm not going to let the boys stay there long. That's why I don't want to be on the pain meds too much."

"Norma."

"I'm already making plans…" she let out a deep breath and relaxed her breathing. "Maybe somewhere East. Somewhere we can start over."

"Norma, you're leaving? After everything?" Alex asked in disbelief.

Norma winced and cliched at her bad arm.  
"I'm getting you the nurse." he said.

"No." she said.

"Yes."

"Alex!"

"Norma, they don't give you medals for pain." he said.

"I don't want to be drugged out."

"Why because you're afraid you'll say something embarrassing?" he asked. He shook his head and looked out towards the door. They were still alone. "Say something embarrassing to the man who shot and killed your husband? Who doesn't regret it?"

Norman leaned back in her pillow and her face looked somber.

"Can you hand me those baby wipes?" she nodded weakly to the plastic box on the table next to her. Alex nodded and opened them before placing them on her bed. She started to gently wipe off her face with them and Alex realized she'd applied a generous amount of makeup to hide the bruises Sam had given her the night before.

He felt a hurt grow inside him at the sight of them. A hurt that was greater than any other case of domestic violence he'd seen before.

"You know, I'm so glad I'm done having to hide bruises from the boys." she said bitterly. "I've totally perfected a technique that covers bruising. Glad I never have have to do it again."

She threw the baby wipe down and Alex had a hard time looking at her face with the black eye and deeply discolored skin.

"I'm sorry." he whispered.  
"We have to leave, Alex." she whimpered.

"No, you don't." he said in a whisper.

"We do. Sam owed people money, bad people, and our names were in the paper. People are going to see our house address and come looking for us." she said. Tears were glistening in her eyes and now Alex knew what Dylan meant my more bad men who might hurt his mother.

"That's not going to happen, Norma." he said. He'd surprised himself with how easily he'd adopted this attitude. That no harm would ever come to Norma or her sons because he simply wouldn't let it. Once the words were said, once they were spoken, they were real. Alex wouldn't let anyone hurt Norma or her boys again.

He reached a hand out and gently, not to aggravate the bruised flesh, wiped away a tear.

"I'm going to call the nurse. She's going to give you something for the pain so you can get a good nights sleep." he said.

"Okay." she said complacently as a child.

He let his hand fall down to hers, their fingers touching before he turned to go.

"Will you stay with me? For a little while? Till I fall asleep?" she asked.

He felt awkward about the request but nodded. Grateful to be able to turn away from her and find the nurse.


	17. Chapter 17

17.

~ "I'm not keeping you from anything, am I?" Norma asked with sudden concern for Alex's free time. Deputy Romero watched the grumpy faced charge nursed leave the room after giving her tonight's pain medication. She had avoided taking anything for hours and had been proud of that. Now, at near shift change, it seemed to inconvenience the staff that the Deputy had demanded she be given something for the constant discomfort in her arm.

"I have a very boring life, Mrs. Bates." he admitted dryly. "Probably would have just stayed up studying."

"Studying what?" she asked and looked over the remote for the TV. She was trying to find the channel for classic movies but for some reason all the stations were different here in the hospital.  
"What are you looking for?" Alex asked when she couldn't find anything in black and white. She didn't seem to be able to control the TV very well from her angle in the bed. No matter how she maneuvered, the screen didn't want to click right.

"An old movie." she said grouchily. "Something nice without violence and nudity in it."

"Here." he took the remote from her and seemed to have better aim. Almost immediately the title credits for 'Funny Face' appeared.

"Better?" he asked.

She felt a rare grin bloom over her face at the happy music.

"Oh, I love this movie. It's a musical and there's an entire song about the color pink." she grinned.

"Oh, boy." Deputy Romeo said humorlessly.

She saw his face darken slightly but a slight smile emerged when he looked at her.

"Are you sure you don't have to be somewhere? With your family?" she asked.

"I live alone."

"What are you studying?" she asked with sudden curiosity as the girls started the musical number she already knew by heart.

Alex sighed.

"I'm getting my law degree." he shrugged as if it meant nothing.  
"Law degree?" she asked.

She wasn't used to being around people with a college education. Those people just weren't apart of her world. She's barely finished high school when she had Dylan at seventeen.

"So, you're going to be a lawyer?" she asked. She blinked and her eyelids felt heavy. The pain meds already kicking in and making her sleepy.

"Oh, God no." Alex said quickly and she saw him actually smile. "No, I still want to work in law enforcement."

"You already work in law enforcement, deputy." she reminded him gently.

"True." he nodded. "I still wanted a degree." he shrugged as if an education was effortless and entitled for someone like him.

She sighed and felt that uncomfortable self loathing again. It hand't visited her in a while now and she didn't like the feeling of not being good enough.

"Wish I had been able to go to college." she admitted.  
"It's not too late. I was older than you when I started." he said. "I did night school."

"You're smart." she laughed. "I'm… just… here."

"Don't sell yourself short, Norma." he said.

The pain medication was making her feel slow and stupid. She felt slightly drunk just now and was glad she was already laying down. Her world feeling fuzzy and off center, but good and warm. She rarely if ever got drunk, but when she did, she always felt good.

She reached out a hand and felt someone, she wasn't sure who, grasp it. His palm was warm and stable and reassuring.

"I shouldn't have asked you to stay." she admitted sadly.

"Why not?"

"I'm… I'm not used to sleeping alone and in a strange place. I always wake up in the morning and find Norman's in bed with me. He had nightmares." she confessed.

"Dylan mentioned something about that when I talked to them." he said.

Norma let out a long sigh.

She felt Alex's fingers lightly grazing over her hands as if he was reading her palm.

"They told you about that?" she asked. She felt the pain medication numbing her mind as well as her body now. She was being pulled into a deep, peaceful ocean and soon enough, she wouldn't care about anything.

"They were afraid of Sam, Norma." Alex told her sadly. "They only care about you. They were glad he wasn't going to hurt you anymore."

"I'm glad he's not going to hurt any of us anymore." Norma said closing her eyes and letting herself become emerged by the waters. She wasn't sure if she was talking out loud or to the ocean she was slipping into. She could still hear Alex's voice, but the waters were so deep and inviting, she felt she could drift down into their beautiful depths and live there for all entirety.

"You're not going to leave are you?" Alex asked. She felt both his warm hands clasp around her own.

"Not if you don't want me to." she said indifferently. She wasn't sure if this was real or not. Her eyes were closed and her world was in darkness. The water taking her under and she was gently falling down into darkness and restful bliss.

"I don't want you to." he whispered.

She felt warmer when he pulled the blankets over her so she could sleep in comfort. She thought, but wasn't sure, she felt the slight pressure of his lips on her unbruised temple, but by then she'd reached the bottom of the ocean floor and knew nothing else.

~ Sunday morning found Alex and Wilson on the fishing boat waiting for the dawn to break.

"Dee says that all the ladies in town won't stop talking about you." Wilson said at last.

Alex let out a sigh.

Finally.

"I didn't know the press was there, Sheriff." he explained.

"It's not your fault. Carrying a small and helpless child out of a dangerous situation, wearing a police uniform, being young and handsome with a thick head of hair and slight facial stubble, that's like porn for women." Wilson shrugged as if this were common knowledge. "Hell, even my wife didn't think much of you till she saw that picture."

"It'll go away soon enough." Alex said. He'd been saying it to himself for the past three days. Ever since the story broke and the picture came out. It had been teasingly posted on the break room wall and he was aware the female deputies had put it in the ladies room as well.

"Maybe." Wilson shrugged. "I know you don't like the attention."

"I don't." Alex added quickly.

"How's the Bates woman?" Wilson asked slyly.

Alex paused. Sheriff Wilson didn't ask question he didn't already know the answer to. Romero had to be careful, he sensed there were traps being laid out for him and he had to watch where he stepped.

"Sybil Lawson asked that I go see the boys. They were going to be picked up by Mrs. Barron and she didn't want them to be scared. She thought a friendly face might put them at ease."Alex explained.

"So she told you to go to the hospital?" Wilson asked.

"You don't say no to Sybil." Alex said.

"No, you do not." Wilson agreed with a defeated sigh. The silver fox had more than his share of dealing with the hardest working social worker in White Pine Bay. Sybil didn't care about elected titles or who carried a loaded gun. She wasn't afraid to dress anyone down and tell them what to do.

"Why do you ask, Tom?"

"There is a strange rumor going around town. Dee heard it at the coffee shop. Seems the nurses were gossiping about how deputy Romero went and visited Mrs. Bates late at night and stayed with her a few hours." Wilson said.  
"It wasn't that late at night and it wasn't a few hours." Alex corrected. His face flushing red at the injustice of people getting the facts wrong. It was before six in the evening, I was only there for an hour with Norma- Mrs. Bates."

"Okay." Wilson said casually.

"I saw the boys first and talked to them like Sybil asked. Made sure they were okay. Talked to Mrs. Bates and she seemed to be handling the stress of her estranged husband… dying alright." Alex said awkwardly.

"It must have been stressful to have the cop who shot your estranged husband come and visit you in the hospital like that. Cozying up to your kids and all." Wilson added.  
"Sheriff." Alex sighed.

"You know what people will say, Alex. You know what people are already saying. That you and the Bates woman were having some kind of affair and that was the reason you were at her home that night when no one called you. That was the reason you killed her husband. That you did it in cold blood because you wanted to get rid of Sam Bates once and for all." Wilson said.  
"Tom, you saw Norma's injuries. You saw the house." Alex said. "Dylan said he flagged down my truck and everything. Are you really asking if I plotted murder?"

"If you did, I can't protect you, Alex." Tom said. A heavy silence resting between the two of them.

"Sheriff, I shot Sam Bates because he wouldn't comply with commands to stop beating his wife. Just like it said in my report." Alex told him calmly.

"Stay away from the Bates woman, Alex." Tom said at last. "That's an order."

"Tom."

"If you care for her and your career at all, you'll leave her alone. People will talk in this town. They are already talking and it's not going to help your position down the road. Leave it alone, Alex. It'll go away." Tom said.

Alex wanted to say something. Wanted to say there was nothing at all between himself and Norma. Wanted to tell him that they weren't friends or had any connection other than professional.

Still, that night in the hospital, he thought about the way he tucked her in so she'd be warm. About foolishly kiss her temple simply because he could. How her eyes had fluttered open and she told him she'd thought he looked handsome in the newspaper.

He had shaken his head and told her to go back to sleep. That she was dreaming. Her eyes promptly closing shut again and he listened to the comforting sounds of her heavy breathing before leaving.

He'd heard from Sybil that Norma had another minor surgery to have another pin put in her arm and she was back home with the boys by Saturday afternoon. Her arm would take months to heal but she was determined to go back to work soon.

Alex had been glad she had no immediate plans to leave town. He felt like she would be giving up, admitting defeat if she were to leave White Pine Bay.

"Alex?" Wilson asked.

Romero looked up at Sheriff Wilson and nodded. His thoughts had been wandering to Norma when he had no business thinking of her at all.

"Right." he said numbly. "No, you're right. Of course. I need to keep my distance from Mrs. Bates and her sons. After what happened, be respectful, that kind of thing."

Wilson watched Alex suspiciously.  
"Good, I'm glad we agree." he said.

~Zac Shelby had been spending a lot of time at the house since Norma came home from the hospital. He had heroically laid down new linoleum in her kitchen and even in the bathroom. Sam had bled out all over the floor so much that it was easier to just put in new flooring than just try to clean it.

Zac had insisted on cooking dinner for them and made sure the boys were careful when they hugged and kissed their mother with her injuries. He even helped Norma in and out of the bath tub and with getting dressed. All the domestic chores she wasn't expecting a member of the male species to readily take to.

"You know that no one is ever going to hurt you again, right?" he told her once the boys were in their room for the night.

Norma shifted uncomfortably on the couch next to him. Zac had propped some pillows under her cast so she would feel more at ease, but if anything, she wanted to be left alone. She liked being independent and didn't like Zac messing around in her kitchen or doing her laundry. Even Alex was better at helping her get dressed than Zac was.

"You know I won't let anyone hurt you." he promised.

"No, I…. I know, Zac." Norma said and wished he would go home already so she could take her pain medication and go to sleep. Hopefully alone this time.

She had been too long away from work now and felt she was going stir crazy in this house with not being able to take care of herself. She couldn't even drive anywhere because of the medication. She didn't need Zac Shelby romantically telling her he was going to keep her safe. She needed her arm better and to be able to take a decent shower and wash her hair for a change.

"I just wish it had been me that shoot that asshole." Zac confessed in frustration. He put his arm around Norma's shoulder and pulled her to him. Forcing her to lean on his chest.

She felt slightly awkward in this position. Her bruises on her body were still bothering her and her arm was still in pain at the odd angle. But at least the bruises to her face were clearing up. She dreaded looking in the mirror at her face everyday. It got to the point she put newspaper over the bathroom mirror so she wouldn't have to look at Sam's handy work. Thankful this would be the last time she would have to apply make up to cover the bruising to hide it from the boys.

"Well, it's over now." Norma told him. She didn't want to talk about Sam anymore and she felt perfectly safe in her own home without Zac there. Shelby was always telling her how she was safe with him in the house. Every night he was over it was the same thing. Telling her he would keep her safe and how he wished that he had killed Sam. How the boys were going to have a positive man in their lives from now on. Zac insisted on sleeping over, but didn't take any liberties with her because of her injuries. Her arm and her bruises seemed to do a good job of scaring him out of touching her too much.

Norma was glad he didn't want to make much physical contact. She found that she didn't like being touched, except by her sons, these days. Soon enough, when her bruises healed and her arm was better, she knew Zac wouldn't want to hear no. He was young and eager for sexual gratification. His hand was always going up her legs and exploring up her skirt. She could always feel a hunger coming from him that she didn't know how to control.

That, and the fact Zac was spending the night without her asking him to. She knew he might not even listen if she told him no.

It was all happening too fast. Norma's husband was barely dead a week and why did it feel like she was already married again? She had spent all this time proving to herself that she was capable and independent, and in the span of one week, she was practically living with a new man.

' _You're such a disappointment_.' that black bird on her shoulder told her. ' _You just can't live without a man, can you? Just like your mother. You'll let Zac do anything he wants to you. As long as he doesn't leave you, you'll do anything he wants. Just like your mother. Better load up on these pain pills, stupid. You're going to be drugged up for a long time. Just like your mother.'_

~ Norma had enough of being helpless. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and Norma decided that she needed to get groceries. She'd neglected her pain medication so she'd be able to drive and began the difficult task of getting ready.

It wasn't easy to shower and dress herself. Dylan had to help zip up her dress in back. A thing the five year old didn't seem to enjoy at all.

"Mom, when's your arm gonna get better?" he complained loudly when Norma couldn't even put her shoes on without his help.

"Not too long, honey." she told him. "Trust me it's more trouble for me than it is for you."

"Deputy Romero was in the newspaper today. He got a medal for saving us." Dylan said.

"Oh, did he?" Norma asked feeling a mild annoyance at the mention of the great hero of White Pine Bay Deputy Alex Romero. She hadn't seen or heard from Alex since that night in the hospital and felt slightly abandoned.

"He said that we're gonna be okay, but I still get scared sometimes. At night." her son told her.

Norma felt a little pain in her heart go off because of Dylan. At the same time she felt grateful Alex had told the child they would be fine and not to worry.

"Dylan, you know that what happened that night, your step dad coming and hurting me, that it's never going to happen again. You know that, right?" she asked him.

Dylan looked sad, but nodded.

"Sam is dead and he can never hurt us again." Norma told him.

"Because Deputy Romero shot him." Dylan said.

Norma took in a deep breath.

"Yes, he did." she admitted. "Does that scare you? That Deputy Romero shot Sam? That he killed him?" she asked.

She sat on the bed beside her son and looked him over worriedly. Trying to understand what kind of trauma her oldest had been through.

"No. I like Deputy Romero. You said he only shoots the bad guys. Sam was being a bad guy and hurting you." Dylan said simply.

"So why are you still scared at night?" Norma asked.

Dylan shrugged and looked at his shoes.

"At night, I sometimes wish Deputy Romero would come here. He makes me not feel scared when he's around. If he was here, he would give me his jacket and tell me what to do, to make it okay." Dylan confessed guiltily. "He always knows what to do."

"Why are you scared now, honey?" Norma asked him. "Sam is gone. No one can hurt you."

Dylan looked away.

"I know. But…"

"But what?"

"I just wish that Coach Shelby would stay at his own house sometimes."

"You don't like Coach Shelby being here?" she asked.

"I don't want him to be here at night." Dylan told her.

"You don't like that your mom has a friend who stays the night?" she asked. "Maybe you're just not used to having another person in the house?"

Dylan was silent. He refused to look at his mother.

"You know, Coach Shelby works for the police. Just like Deputy Romero. You can feel safe with him when he's here. Can't you?" she asked.

She felt her son was going to tell her something important. Something that took time and couldn't be rushed or pushed. She pulled him closer to her and waited. She didn't want to break the spell of trust between them. It was so rare to catch Dylan's trust.

"I don't like the way Coach Shelby comes in my room at night." Dylan finally whispered.

 **I know that not a lot of my readers wanted this part back in the story. I felt it was important. I felt it was an important part of Shelby's character and eventually's Dylan's character. I also felt it was important to establish that Norma is a good mother who defends her children even if she thinks she isn't a good mother at times.**

 **I know the subject is uncomfortable, I get that, but it's important.**


	18. Chapter 18

18.

~ Alex had never liked going to the grocery store; for anything. He normally went early in the morning or just before the store closed. For some reason, he always felt like people were judging him on his purchases of TV dinners, lunch meat, bread, and cheap shampoo. He knew he reeked of the depressing single life in a world of domestic perfectionists. He'd never learned to cook other than grilling during the summer months. He had no interest in entertaining at his home. Occasionally, Wilson and his wife had him over for dinner, but most nights, Alex ate alone while watching TV. The nights when he wasn't working that is. Those nights he ate fast food and worked out the calories at the gym. He'd always been blessed with a good metabolism but he knew he couldn't eat like this forever. Eventually, the high sodium diet would catch up with him if the stress didn't do it first.

"Please tell me that's not your dinner." a familiar voice accused when he was looking over a new item in the frozen foods section.

Alex felt his eyes roll in annoyance. He could just see her now. See her pretty face looking disgusted at his food choices. He turned around and wasn't disappointed.

"Norma Bates." he sighed in exhaustion. "How are you?"

He was right about her to the last detail. She **did** have a disgusted look on her face. Little Norman sat in the shopping cart facing his mother. Dylan hung on the side and gave him a friendly wave which he nodded in return.

"You don't eat those things do you?" Norma Bates asked. Her nose crinkling and she lifted up one of the boxes he was holding.

Alex pulled it away from her and refused to answer. He was slightly offended she was judging him on his meals.

"You look a lot better." he made a movement on his own face to show that her bruises were healing at last.

"Thank you." she told him. "Alex, those TV dinners are so bad for you. How can you eat them? It's not even real food."

Alex was about to tell her off for her comments on what he chose to eat was his business. It wasn't normal for the average person to pick apart the eating habits of someone they didn't know that well.

"Its fine, Mrs. Bates." he said in frustration. He couldn't tell her what her really thought in front of the boys. Not in a crowded super market. Already he could see a nosey pair of women had stopped at the end of the aisle and were watching them.

"It's not fine. You're going to have a heart attack eating like that." Norma accused sharply.

"Why don't you come over to my house? I can fix you a nice dinner." she offered. "Or I can make you something that will keep so you don't have to eat that."

Alex looked at her in shock. She must be losing her mind.

"That's… that's not going to happen, Mrs. Bates." he said firmly. The last thing he needed was Wilson getting wind of him eating dinner at Norma's house.

"Why are you calling me Mrs. Bates all of the sudden?" Norma accused.

"You can come over!" Dylan added quickly.

"No, that's alright." Alex told him.

He turned to Norma and spoke to her.

"I think, given all that's happened, it's best that I not come by." he told her. "Ever."

She looked a little hurt by what he said and he was about to walk away. It was good to rip that band-aide off now. She had to know that it wasn't normal for the man who shot and killed her husband to be having dinner with her and the boys.

"Alex, wait." she said quickly.

He turned back and felt real frustration at her never ending insistence. Why couldn't she just let this drop? Why was she so hard headed and contrary?

She did looked worried though. Even scared. She stepped close to him and seemed to have trouble speaking. Like she had forgotten what she wanted to say.

"I'm sorry if I did anything-"

Alex put a hand up.

"It's not you, Mrs. Bates." he said.

"Norma. Please." she insisted.

He refused to answer.

"Look, I need to talk to you." she whispered.

"Arn't we talking now?" he asked.

"No, not like this. We need to talk alone." she whispered urgently.

Alex shook his head.

"Please? It's important." she told him.

"Norma, I can't be seen with you. It looks bad." he tried to explain.

"No one will see us. Can you just meet me somewhere? Someplace to talk? Please?" she asked.

Alex couldn't pull himself away from her gaze. Her eyes had seemed to change color again. They were the same blue of the sky in winter. A lonely color when all you wanted in the world comfort and companionship. Alex glanced over at the gossipy women down the aisle who made no secret about staring at them.

"Okay." he said at last. "Where we going?"

~ Off the old highway there was a secluded road Alex knew no one ever came down, or could clearly see from a distance. His SUV was parked there that afternoon and hidden from view by thick clusters of trees and overgrown bushes.

He half expected Norma to not show up. It would be better if she didn't. He didn't know what was happening in her life just now, but he was sure it wasn't his place to get involved. If this had anything to do with Shelby and her relationship with him, he would leave. He wasn't one of her girlfriend or even a real friend that she could talk to about these kinds of things with. He wasn't about to be the guy friend that was the go-to shoulder to cry on when things got rough with her love life.

Alex, let out a sigh of relief when he saw the old Buick carefully maneuver down the muddy path right on time. He was glad Norma at least had the sense to replace the older headlights.

She parked the car and killed the engine. Romero could hear the distinct knocking noise that meant it was in dire need of a mechanic soon. It might be best if she just chucked the ailing car off the nearest cliff and said to hell with it.

Norma Bates wasn't adept to her broken arm yet because she clumsily stumbled out of the Buick, her seatbelt getting caught in the sling she still had to wear. She seemed to have a hard time getting out of the car, but when she finally managed she caught her sling on something and it nearly pulling her back again. She managed to stand up, drop her keys on the ground, curse loudly, pick them up, slam the car door with her skirt caught in it, curse again and had to unlock the door to free herself.

Alex sat in the driver's seat of his SUV and watched her struggle. He felt slightly bad, with her broken arm, but it was mildly entertaining. Norma Bates had so much energy, it amazed him. He wondered if she ever felt relaxed at all. Did she have trouble falling asleep like he did? Or, did she find a quite corner of the house and power down like a manic robot?

He managed not to smile at that last thought, but it was a near thing.

When she was finally freed, she opened the passenger side of the SUV to get in. Norma, being Norma, had to make a less than graceful entrance. She misjudged the hight and banged her head while climbing in.

"Owe!" she cried out like a three year old.

"Watch you head." he corrected her and waited patiently while she righted her posture with her broken arm somewhat clumsy body.  
"I've been having all kinds off accidents the past few days." she sighed. "I can't do anything right."

"What's the problem, Norma?" he asked dryly.

"Why do you have to say it like that?" she asked hotly. Her cheeks were pink from the exertion of her previous labor from getting out of her own car. "What ever happened to hello?"

"Hello. What's the problem, Norma?" he asked indifferently.

He looked away from her and didn't want to think about how lovely her skin looked just now. How her eyes sparkled like stars in the sky and how he wanted to kick himself for not helping her get out of the car before. For not opening the hood of the old Buick and telling her what was wrong with it. For not driving it off a cliff himself and then taking her to the dealership and making sure she got a good car for a fair price.

Instead he looked away and felt his cheeks burn.

She smoothed down her hair with her good hand and took a deep breath.

"Listen, this is a very sensitive thing to talk about." she said. "I'm not really sure what to do in a situation like this."

"A situation like what?" he asked coldly.

She wasn't looking at him.

"I thought about going to Sybil, but she would want to… want to do something drastic."

"Drastic?" Alex repeated. He was becoming annoyed that she wouldn't get to the point. "Drastic about what?"

"Zac Shelby has been coming over to my house. A lot." Norma admitted.

Alex felt himself sit up straiter. There it was. She wanted his advice about her love life.

"You know, I don't ask him to, Alex. He just comes over and he makes it so it's hard to ask him to leave. He stays overnight to."

Alex felt his teeth grinding.

"Nothing happens. He just wants to sleep in the same bed as me. I told him my arm still hurts. He's been a perfect gentleman to me." Norma insisted quickly and she tried to catch his eye.

He looked away. As if Alex cared who she slept with.

"Look, Norma." he managed to get out at last. His voice shaking slightly. "I'm not here for you to talk to about your love life. I'm not that close to Zac Shelby. If he told you we're friends… we're not. We just work together."

"Alex." Norma cut him off and he knew to take her seriously. Her voice was sadder than he had ever heard before. He didn't like it when she said his name that way. Like it was a desperate plea for help.

He looked back at her to see her body slightly hunched over. Her eyes on her hands which rested in her lap.

He looked at her slim fingers. Her perfectly formed nails that she didn't paint or try to embellish.

"What is it?" he asked at last. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

"Dylan." she breathed and took in a long breath.

Alex counted to three in his mind before asking.

"What about Dylan?"

Alex was forced to wait for her to find the right words. They didn't come easily.

"This morning." she said slowly. "Dylan told me he didn't like the way Zac came in his room at night."

Alex watched her as she spoke. Her face serious and frightened. It took him a moment to understand what she was trying to say.

"Zac Shelby has been going into Dylan's room?" Alex asked.

Norma nodded.

"At night?"

She nodded.

"Alone?"

"That's what he told me." she said sadly.

"What has he been doing?" he asked.

Norma shook her head.

"I don't know, Dylan wouldn't tell me. Just that he's been scared because of it. He doesn't want Zac to be there anymore." she said.

"Then, tell Shelby to go home." Alex said bluntly. He wished he hadn't been so curt, but the solution was simple enough.

"Alex, what if Zac has been molesting my children?" she hissed. "What if he's been doing it to the boys on the little league team he coaches?"

Alex felt a pressure in his chest that had nothing to do with eating unhealthy TV dinners.

"Norma, if you have reason to think that, then you have to tell Sybil what Dylan said. She's a social worker. She knows how to handle this." he told her at last.

"Zac works for the police." Norma almost cried. "What if no one believes Dylan? What if Zac tries to come after us?"

Alex blinked and looked back at her desperate face. She had every reason to be worried and upset. She must have thought there would be no justice if the crime was done by a cop.

"I'm only telling you this because… because you've always… looked after us." she admitted. "You said that if we stayed…

Her face fell slightly and she looked away.

Alex looked back at her. He knew exactly what he'd promised her in that hospital room.

"Alright." he said at last. "I'll take care of it."

"Take care of it? Take care of it how?" she asked quickly.

"I'll handle it." he explained.

"I want to trust you." she admitted sadly.

"Then trust me." he interrupted. "Don't let Shelby stay the night anymore. I'll take care of the rest."

His voice was cold and he knew he was getting angry. He knew Norma and Dylan were telling the truth. Maybe that's what always bugged him about Shelby. Maybe deep down, Alex always knew something was off. That Shelby was really a monster who could hide in plain sight.

"Alright." Norma said with a shaky breath. She turned to get out of the car.

"Norma?" he called back to her.

She turned and he saw her face still looked scared.

"Don't worry." he offered. "But don't tell anyone you talked to me."

"Why?" she asked.

Alex shook his head.  
"Wilson ordered me not have any contact with you or the boys. Because of the shooting." Alex explained.  
"Well that's stupid." Norma snapped. "We were friends before."

Alex didn't bother to hide his surprise this time. Norma looked in the back seat where Graceland normally sat.

"Where's the dog?" she asked.

"I left her back at the station." Alex explained. "I know you're afraid of her."

"I'm not afraid." Norma said stubbornly. "Dogs are dangerous."

Alex nodded.

"Yeah. They can be." he said. "Did you wanna tell me what happened to your friend? When you were little?" he asked.

Norma looked annoyed and let out a long breath of aggravation.

"Nothing much to tell. We were kids, playing by a creek, we'd wandered away from the compound, and we wen't supposed to be there. This big dog came up and attacked our friend. Right in the throat. The guy had to shoot him before he attacked the rest of us." Norma said. Her voice was shaky towards the end.

Alex didn't ask questions. Already the word ' _Compound_ ' and the fact that there were armed men with guns in the area were alarming.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"It was a long time ago." Norma said. "I just worry because Norman and Dylan are so little."

"You know Graceland is all bark. She's not really an attack dog. Just a dog like her barking is more than enough to get a suspect to comply." Alex said.

"Have you had her since she was a puppy?" Norma asked. "Trained her?"  
"I trained her. Yes." Alex nodded. "Not since she was a puppy though. I got her when she flunked out of bomb sniffing school."

"Bomb sniffing school drop out?" Norma looked scandalized and smiled.  
Alex grinned.  
"You know they always train the females? The males have behavioral issues." he told her. "Also, the females tend to be much less aggressive than the males. Much less dominate."

Norma shrugged.

"Not in all species." she said easily.

Alex felt their was some kind of hidden meaning in that statement, but he wasn't sure what it was.

He caught Norma's eye and felt slightly embarrassed.

"Where are the boys now?" he asked.

"Dylan and Norman are both at the daycare. I won't let him go back to practice. I mean, what if I'm wrong about Zac?" Norma asked.  
"What if you're right?" he asked.

Her face looked sad and she nodded.

"Alex, if you wanted to say hi to me or the boys. I would like that. We would like that. If you wanted to come to the house for dinner, Sheriff Wilson wouldn't have to know." Norma told him.

Alex felt his heart skip a beat.

Forbidden relationship. Secrets being kept. Whispers and pulled curtains.

Alex swallowed hard.

"You could even bring the dog." Norma said with a nervous laugh. "The boys would like that."

"Wilson would find out, Norma." Alex said. He kept his gaze firmly on the steering wheel. He couldn't bare to look at her. It hurt too much. He wanted nothing more than to be in that cozy home. That home where he'd be welcome, where Graceland would be welcomed to.

Where the boys would look at him like he belonged there. Where Norma's skin would always glow pink like it did now. Where after dinner, maybe, they tuck the boys in and then she'd put that pretty slip on and they'd go back to her room…

He cleared his throat.

"Listen." he said. "A while back… right after you moved in… I don't know… I drove past the house. This is a little awkward… um but I think you should be made aware of it… at night… with the lights on… I think it's your room, not sure. You can see right through those curtains."

He glanced at her. His guilty, shameful secret out at last.

"You can?" she asked. Her face, perfect and flawless was impossible to read. She didn't seem upset, angry or even embarrassed.

"Yeah." he said.

She kept looking at him. Her eyes a blistering blue that felt like electricity biting into him.

"Alright. I'm going to take care of this- this Shelby- this Shelby thing." he said with that annoying stutter coming back. The stutter always came back to him when he was nervous. It was a thing that hadn't visited him in years, and here it was again.

"Ok." Norma said and for once, managed a gracefully exit without incident.

Alex waited until she got the old Buick started and was down the road before he left the clearing. He didn't want to leave before her on the chance that her car might fail to start and she'd be stranded.

 **HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!**


	19. Chapter 19

19.

~ Alex debated on what to do and who to ask for help. It occurred to him briefly to go to Shelby's house and simply beat the shit out of him. Tell him to pack up and leave town tonight and if he ever bothered Norma and her boys again, he'd be a dead man.

That was how his father did things. The Old Bear would take a group of his most trusted, yet crooked, deputies and clean house with those who were undesirable or destructive to the way things worked in White Pine Bay.

The Bear was not above planting drugs, slashing tires, burning down houses or using other means of intimidation on someone they wanted to see the last of. If that individual still hadn't complied, well, there were plenty of places to hide a body in White Pine Bay. Places where no one would ever find them.

Alex shook the idea from his mind. He'd been absentmindedly staring into space while at his desk that morning. His mind working over the perplexing problem Norma had trusted him with. He didn't even notice Shelby had come in.

"Alex?" Shelby asked.

Romero looked up in surprise at seeing Zac standing there at his desk. He still had trouble believing that this was the same person who might be molesting a helpless young boy. He just didn't look the type. Shelby had everything going for him. He was young, good looking, athletic, popular, had no problems with women so far as Romero could see. He hadn't come from a dysfunctional home either. Donna Shelby was a nice lady and had played the organ at the church until she died two years ago in a car crash. Rick Shelby was a hard ass, but he was a local business man and city council member. Zac was an honor student in high school, and a model citizen in every way. Romero knew better, but he'd always half believed the image of child molester as being some middle aged pervert who lived in his mother's basements and played with dead animals all day.

"Are we heading out?" Zac asked.

"I have paper work to catch up on, Shelby." Romero said coldly. He glanced at Graceland who looked back at her partner curiously. "You'll be fine on your own today."

The younger man looked only slightly confused. Finally he nodded and turned to leave for the days patrol.

Alex leaned back in his chair and kept thinking on what to do. He was damned every way he looked at this. He knew he couldn't get involved because of the shooting, but how could he not? What if it were true? What if Dylan and even little Norman were in danger? What about the kids Shelby coached? What if he was hurting them?

Graceland picked up her head as if to tell him something. Her large brown eyes communicating with her partner all she wanted to say. Romero stood and wordlessly went to Wilson's office. Graceland jumping off her dog bed and quickly keeping pace with him until they were both inside Tom Wilson's office.

~ Wilson was never happy these days. Alex could tell by the look on his face that the Sheriff was angry.

"So, after I specifically said to stay away from the Bates woman, that meant you should meet up with her in some private, secluded, area in the woods and discuss her romantic relationship with Deputy Zac Shelby?" Wilson asked casually.

"No, sir." Alex admitted awkwardly. "She came to me in the grocery store."

"Jesus, Alex." Wilson growled. "What are you doing? Are you intentionally making your life difficult?"

"Not intentionally, Tom." Alex said.

Wilson still looked angry.

"And I suppose she could only talk to you because?" the sheriff prompted.

"She said that Shelby has been staying there since the shooting, and that her oldest child told her that Zac Shelby has been going into his room at night." Alex explained.

He expected the sheriff to be more horrified.

"And doing what?" Wilson asked.

Alex looked up in surprise.

"She said that Dylan didn't like it when Shelby came into his room at night." Alex explained again.

"Did the boy tell her or you what **exactly** Deputy Shelby was doing? Was he checking on them? There was a shooting in that house after all. A man died not ten feet from their bedroom. Maybe Dylan was having nightmares and didn't like another man being around him so soon after his step-father was gun-down." the sheriff offered logically.

"She couldn't specify, Tom." Alex said curtly. "I would have asked the child, but I'm still under orders to stay away."

"Why did she come to you?" Wilson accused. "What, exactly, is your relationship to Norma Bates?"

Alex felt his jaw tighten. He wasn't sure how to answer the question.

"I… I don't have a relationship with Norma Bates." he said at last.

"You don't see her socially?" Wilson asked.

"No." Alex said quickly.

"So, this isn't some elaborate ploy to get Zac Shelby away from Norma Bates? Ruin his reputation? Get him out of the picture?" Wilson asked.

Alex rolled his eyes. His teeth were grinding again.

"You know, Tom, there are easier ways to get a boyfriend out of her life. If I wanted to, which I don't." he said.

Wilson still looked skeptical.

"I know you told me to stay away from Norma Bates, Tom; but this is serious." Alex said. "I wouldn't risk my career if I didn't think this is serious."

"Well, Alex. You **are** risking you career." Tom said harshly. "I doubt it's anything more than a little kid not liking his mom's boyfriend hanging around the house."

Alex noticed Graceland had maneuvered behind him. She didn't like Tom being angry any more than he did.

"But, I wouldn't be doing my job if we didn't talk to the alleged victim." The silver fox stood to his impressive hight.

"We?" Alex asked standing up as well.

"Yes, we. You have a relationship with the boy. Obviously." Wilson said sarcastically. "It's your mess isn't it? So you're gonna help me figure all this out. When it's all settled, Alex, you're gonna leave Norma Bates alone. Hear me?"

~ Alex winced at the hippie women who had practically raised him in day care. He'd made himself forget their loving and always nurturing energy when he came into the school house. Freddie and Tara Lock hadn't changed at all in the 25 years since he'd been there.

"Norma Bates' son, sure! You know, Norma Bates has been such a gift. Such a **gift**!" Tara Lock explained when Romero and Wilson asked to see him.

Alex spotted Dylan sitting on the play ground outside. He looked out of place with the younger kids. Norman was keeping him company, but he still looked sad.

"You know that Norma comes in on her only days off and teaches piano to the children?" Tara explained.

Alex turned to Tara as if he'd misheard.

"What?" he asked.

Tara nodded. Her long, snow white dreadlocks made a beautiful contrast to her dark skin.

"Oh yes. Twice week. She sits right there at our piano for about four hours and sings and plays and teaches the little ones the scales. I think she's even taught a few of them to play and they are only four or five. It's amazing." Tara went on.

"That **is** amazing." Alex nodded. He hadn't been aware that Norma Bates could play the piano, much less do it well enough to teach others.

"She has a beautiful voice to." Tara explained happily and started to laugh. "Absolute Godsend. She makes the kids start to sing and dance and by the time she's done, Alex, they are all worn out and ready for nap time and the rest of the day is just a breeze for us. She's cleaver! Very clever!"

Tera tapped her head like Norma Bates had figured out some complex exhaustion equation when it came to children.

~ Being the kind of town that White Pine Bay was, it was no trouble at all for the Sheriff and his Deputy to remove a child from the local daycare for an hour or so.

Dylan was thrilled to see them and even happier that Graceland was with them. The dog wagging her tail at seeing Dylan and promptly licking his cheek in greeting.

The Sheriff let Norma's oldest ride in the front seat and work the flashing lights and sirens when they were on an empty stretch of road. They drove into town to get milkshakes and talk.

"You know, Dylan." Wilson was saying after they had asked the boy about sports and how his mother was doing. "The most important thing for a Sheriff to be is honest. It's important to always tell the truth. Even if the truth is hard. Isn't that right, Alex?"

Romero was quick to nod.

"That's right, Sheriff." he said. "I would get into a lot of trouble if I lied about something."

"Yes. Sometimes it's hard to tell the truth because it's embarrassing, or because you think people will be mad." Wilson said.

Dylan was quite. He was focused on his milkshake, but his little face looked serious and angry.

"But if we lie, it always makes it worse." Alex agreed.

"That's right." Wilson nodded. "Whenever I've got a problem, no matter how bad, I know I can talk to my friend Alex here."

The Sheriff nodded at his Deputy.

"We always work it out." Alex agreed. "There is no problem we can't solve."

"Your mom is worried you might have a problem, Dylan." Wilson told the boy.

Dylan shook his head but wouldn't look up.

"I'm okay." he said sadly. His face turning red.

Alex wanted to demand the child tell him everything, but knew he had to use a light touch. He looked at Wilson for clues on what to do next.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay." Wilson said easily. "But if you're not okay, now is the time to tell us."

Dylan was quite. The silver fox took a deep breath and kept his voice calm and comforting when he spoke next.

"Your mom is sure worried about you." he said. "She told Alex how you don't like it when Shelby goes into your room at night."

"No. No it's okay." Dylan said quickly. His face near panicked.

"Dylan." Alex offered. "You know that whatever you tell us, that it stays between us. You know we won't tell Shelby."

Wilson glared at Alex but looked back at the boy again.

"You're not in any trouble, son." the Sheriff added. "What does Shelby do when he goes in your room?"

Dylan was silent for a long time and Alex wanted to say something. He could sense by the child's body language that something was very wrong. Dylan was tense and he wouldn't look at them. His breathing had picked up and his arms had folded over his chest. His milkshake was forgotten.

"He sits on my bed in the dark." Dylan offered.

Wilson nodded.

"He talks to me. Norman is asleep in the next bed. Coach Shelby… he...he just asks me stuff." Dylan explained.

Alex felt his chest tighten.

"What kind of stuff?" Wilson asked casually.

"He…well, he asks if I ever touch Norman's privates and that it's okay if I do."

Alex wasn't sure if he wanted to hear this.

"Then he asks me if I… you know… I touch myself. That he won't tell anyone if I do. He asks me if I want to look at the magazine with the ladies in it again. They don't have their clothes on and he shows them to me. He asks me if…" Dylan stopped. He was breathing hard.

"It's okay, son." Alex said quickly. "Take a deep breath, it's okay."

Dylan nodded and tried to compose himself; but he wouldn't speak.

"What else happens when Shelby is in your room at night?" Wilson asked at last. The Sheriff's voice was calm, but not intimidating. Not demanding anything from the child.

Dylan seemed to have trouble speaking. His eyes were wet with tears.

"You need to say the words, Dylan." Wilson told him. "I can't say them for you."

Dylan looked like he was in physical pain.

"I want you to be brave." Alex reminded him. "Be that brave guy for me that saved his mom. Remember how brave you were?"

Alex felt sick at the idea of what Dylan would say next.

"He… he… um… wanted to know if I'd ever touched a grown up on the… privates. That… that it was okay to wonder what they looked like. That I could see his, that I could…" the boy stopped and looked ashamed.

Alex wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault. He wanted to kill Shelby. Instead, he ground his teeth and looked to Wilson.

"He let me touch him." Dylan confessed. His face was red with the humiliation of it. "But I didn't want to do it again."

"Okay." Wilson said gently. "Then what happened?"

"He kept coming back in my room and talking to me. He would get in the bed with me." Dylan said. Alex felt sure the child would throw up any second.

"Okay." Wilson prompted. "What did he do then?"

"He would… he would put his hand… he would put his hand down there on me." Dylan said with difficulty.

"Did you tell Shelby not do that?" Wilson asked.

Alex felt his teeth grinding harder. He would have to see a dentist soon if he couldn't stop this grinding. Already he was having headaches.

Dylan nodded.

"I told him it hurt and I didn't like it. I didn't want to keep having to touch him. He said I had to. He said I knew what I did to him. That I knew what I was doing. That I had started it." the boy said.

"What else did Shelby say?" Wilson asked.

Dylan shook his head and refused to speak.

"Come on, Dylan." Alex offered. His own voice was shaking. "You can do this."

"I told him… I told him I would tell my mom. That my mom would be mad at him. He… he said that my mom knows I'm a lier. That if I said anything, that she wouldn't believe me. That she would know it was my fault for touching him first. That I had wanted to see his privates first. That… that I was a… a faggot for touching him first. That she wouldn't love me if I was a faggot, and the other boys would beat me up when they found out." Dylan said. His face was red with shame.

Alex was handing Dylan some napkins to dry his face off with. He was glad the hamburger place was empty of customers so no one would see the child like this.

"Alright, Dylan." Wilson said. "Alex and I are gonna take care of this."

"No." Dylan moaned.

"You are not in any trouble, young man." Wilson said in a stern voice.

Alex rested an arm on Dylan's small shoulders and felt the tightness in his chest ease when Dylan leaned into him for comfort.

"You are not in any trouble and you're not going to be in any trouble for what happened. Is that clear?" Wilson said with such authority it might as well have come from God himself.

Dylan nodded reluctantly.

"Alright. I'm gonna drop you and Alex and that dog of his off at your mother's house. She should be picking up your brother Norman soon anyway. Now, Shelby isn't going to come to your house ever again. He's not going to see your mother ever again. He's not going to bother you or her ever again." Wilson said. "Clear?"

"Yes, sir." Dylan nodded weakly.

Wilson nodded to Alex.

"You wait for the Bates woman to get home and keep her there till I can come and have a word with her." he said.

"Yes, sir." Alex nodded. He pulled Dylan in a little tighter as they watched the silver fox stand up and start to leave.

Alex nodded to Dylan that it was time to follow the sheriff.  
"Coach Shelby isn't gonna be mad at me?" Dylan whispered to Romero.  
"You're never gonna see Zac Shelby again, son." Alex whispered back as they left the burger joint.


	20. Chapter 20

20.

~ Alex was glad that Norma wasn't at home when Sheriff Wilson dropped him, Dylan and Graceland off at the house at the end of Pine Valley Lane.

"We'll be fine." Alex said with a wave. Dylan was already tempting Graceland with a frisbee. The large German Shepard, forgetting that she was a highly trained police dog, and reverting back to puppy mode around Dylan.

"So, Graceland is real a police officer?" Dylan asked once they had enjoyed a few serine minutes of throwing the frisbee and watching Graceland race after it with glee.

"Yeah, she even had a badge number." Alex said.

"Cool." Dylan said. Clearly impressed. "Does she get a paycheck?"

Alex laughed a little. That was one thing he'd never thought of.

"No, not really. At the end of the day she comes home with me and I toss one of her favorite toys out back for her. If she's helped me bring in a suspect and obeyed all commands, she gets scrambled eggs for dinner." he explained.

He corrected Dylan's arm so that he could throw the frisbee out longer.

"Like when you arrested Sam?" Dylan asked.

Alex paused, but didn't flinch.  
"Yeah. I had to arrest Sam because he tried to hit me. Assaulting a peace officer will get you arrested. So is driving under the influence." he said.

"I know." Dylan shrugged.

They were quite for a while. Alex wanted to explain himself, but found that the words wouldn't come. Besides, he sensed that there was no love lost between Sam Bates and his step-son.

"Good job." Alex nodded when Dylan had thrown the frisbee out farther than ever without much effort.

"Yeah!" Dylan said happily.

"You did that exactly right." Alex said. He wanted to be encouraging to the child in a way his own father had never encouraged him. Romero had always found the proper encouragement from baseball coaches in middle school and high school who kept him from getting too far off track. He'd been a natural at the sport and it was the only thing he'd ever done the Old Bear had approved of. So naturally, Alex had turned down the full scholarship to the old man's Alma Mater and joined the Marines out of spite. It was his nature back then to be self destructive.

"Is Coach Shelby gonna get into trouble because of me?" Dylan asked without preamble.

Alex was caught of guard, but again, he didn't flinch or stumble.

"No." he said quickly. They watched Graceland bring the frisbee back to them. "No, Shelby got **himself** into trouble. Don't ever think differently."

"He's gonna be mad a me. He might get mad at mom." Dylan said.  
"None of that will happen." Alex said. "Shelby is never coming back here."

"Because you're gonna be here now?" Dylan asked hopefully.

Alex looked around the empty backyard for help. As if he expected someone to come to his rescue. Tom wouldn't like the idea of him promising to keep a watch over Norma and the boys just now. Gossip in this town would never stop.

"Yeah." Alex said at last. His voice sounding odd even to him. "Yeah, I'll be here."

"I like it when you're here." Dylan nodded in relief.

"You do?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. You'd know what to do if something bad happens. I won't feel nervous or scared if you're here. If someone bad comes to the house, Graceland will warn us and you'll make them go away." Dylan explained logically.

"Well, I'm glad." Alex said. "It's good that you don't feel nervous or scared."

He felt sad that this little boy had already endured so much over the past few months. His step father's arrest in front of him, starting over in a new town, his mother being beaten by his stepfather, not to mention the shooting. Now this horrible mess with Shelby.

"I'm I gonna get into trouble?" Dylan asked.  
"No, Dylan." Alex said sternly. "I told you. Shelby got himself into trouble."

"No, I mean about the magazines." Dylan explained.

"Oh." Alex said. He'd forgotten about that aspect of Shelby's crime. He wasn't looking forward to telling Norma what had happened to her son and a dirty magazine had been the least of it.

"Dylan," he sighed.

He shouldn't talk to the boy about these things. He wasn't his father or even a family member. Still, who else did the kid have to explain it to him? A doctor? Norma? Did Alex really want **Norma** to talk to him about something as innocent as being curious with regard to the female body? If Dylan wasn't already scared for life, he would be. Nothing warped a boy quicker than a mother expanding sex to him. They were two things that should never mix.

Dylan was looking at him with real worry in his eyes.  
"You're not going to get into trouble for looking at those magazines, son." he said kneeling down to meet him at eye level. Graceland was already tired of playing fetch and was glad everyone had decided to take a break.

"I'm not?" Dylan asked.  
"No." Alex assured him. "Look, its' normal for boys to be curious about sex. I wasn't much older than you were when my friend stole his dad's Playboy's and we looked at them."

"What are Playboys?" Dylan asked innocently.

Alex shut his eyes and shook his head. He could see Norma and Tom's angry faces now.

"It's not important and don't mention that word to your mother, she'll be mad at me." he said quickly.  
"Okay." Dylan nodded.

"The point is, that it was wrong for Shelby to show you those magazines, but it's okay for you to be curious about the women in those… um… magazines. That's just apart of growing up." Alex explained. "Understand?"

"Yeah." Dylan nodded.

"Okay. So don't feel bad about it." Alex said.

"So you and your friends looked at naked ladies when you were kids?"

Alex took a deep breath and had to laugh at himself. Remembering the kid of eleven or twelve without a clue how to even talk to girls. Part of him repulsed yet intrigued at the idea of the opposite sex. Dylan wasn't making this easy on him.

"See, Dylan." he started again nervously. "ALL men, who like women… they um….men like naked women. They like to see them, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with liking naked women. Shelby shouldn't have showed you that magazines, but it's perfectly normal if you liked seeing it. It's not bad to be curious."

"Do you like naked women?" Dylan asked innocently.

Alex nodded and tried to keep a strait face.

"Of course. I think women, naked women, are beautiful." he admitted carefully.

"Do you still look at magazines like that?" he asked.

Alex felt himself blush slightly. He hadn't been much older than Dylan when he and some friends had found that stash of old playboys. Those vintage issues from the 60's were covertly passed along to each boy in turn. How he had given careful attention to each centerfold until he determined which were his favorites. He had always liked the blonds the best; even if they weren't natural. He liked how they just seemed so vibrant with their hair teased, bleached and curled tight. How the style of the decade demanded long, fake eyelashes that he was foolish enough to think were real. Those eyes always looking right at him, as if asking him to join them. His younger self always wishing he could. He'd memorized to the last detail how magnificent these dream girls looked lounging in nothing more than see-through nighties and half open college sweaters. Legs and arms neatly folded in a seductive pose of false modesty that never showed too much. Their bodies were perfect, rounded and natural. He never forgot how these beauties teased him from across the pages. Images, curves and faces he could see even now.

"I'm an adult." he said as an answer.

"Will the other kids think I'm gay?" Dylan asked.

"The other kids won't know what happened. Shelby isn't going to coach the team and that's his fault, not yours." Alex said easily. He was glad they were off the subject of sex and porn for now.

"Coach Shelby says it makes me gay now." Dylan said.  
"That's not how it works, son." Alex told him. "Men and women who are gay are born that way. They aren't forced to be gay or strait by someone else."

"Promise?" Dylan asked worriedly.

"I promise." Alex nodded. "If you were gay there's nothing wrong with that either you know."

"I know, but, I don't think I am." Dylan explained honestly. "I want girlfriend one day."

Alex smiled and both of them turned when the heard the whine of the old Buick come down the lane.  
"Your mom's home." Alex nodded. Graceland gave out a bark at the car.  
"Heel." Alex ordered and the police dog promptly sat back on her haunches.

Norma pulled the battered old car into the driveway as Dylan and Alex walked up to meet her.  
"Hi, boys." she said with an uneasy glance at them and Graceland.

Alex looked back at the dog who was waiting patiently.  
"Oh, I thought I would take you up on that dinner invitation." he explained placing his hands on Dylan's shoulders.

Norma knew exactly what had happened. Little Norman was in the back, strapped in his carseat and already asleep. She'd picked him up from daycare and learned that Wilson and Alex had come to talk to Dylan already.

"Oh!" she said and gave them both a big, fake smile that quickly faltered and failed.

"If that's okay." Alex said.  
"It's okay!" Dylan said eagerly.

"Of course it's okay." Norma said. Her smile was real this time as she opened the car door and went to the back seat to get Norman.

"Here." Alex said.

Norma undid the carseat straps and allowed him to lift the sleeping toddler, who was heavier than he looked.

"Thanks." she said quickly.  
"Well, you still have the cast." Alex nodded to her broken arm as Norman stirred a little before resting his head on Alex's shoulder.

"He fell asleep on the way back home and I hate to wake him. He's overdue for his nap." Norma explained. She turned to her oldest. "Dylan, I've got groceries in the trunk, I want you to unload them."

Dylan nodded as Alex followed Norma into the house. He turned and watched her open the truck and start fishing out grocery bags.  
"Is he going to be okay doing all that?" he asked. Norman was sound asleep in his arms and leaning his head heavily on his shoulder. Norma turned back to him and stared at them in shock. Her face falling slightly as if she'd seen something traumatic.

"Norma?" he asked.

"What?" Norma asked. She seemed slightly dazed for just a moment.  
"Can he do that by himself?" Alex asked nodding towards Dylan.

"Oh!" Norma said. Her voice nervous and she tried to put her fake smile back on. "Oh yes. Yes. Yes. That's his job. It's how he get's his allowance money. He put's the groceries away. Folds the laundry for me and puts everything away." She explained.

"That's good." Alex said thoughtfully. "It's good he has chores."

He meant it to. He liked the idea of Dylan being raised by a woman who made him do things around the house. It would make him a more responsible adult.

She tried to unlock the front door with her keys but seemed to have trouble with her good arm. She jiggled the knob a little and her whole body bounced in frustration that the lock didn't turn.

"Stupid… lock…" she muttered.  
"Here." Alex stepped in front of her and, with a sleeping Norman in one arm, managed to unlock the door with ease.

He didn't miss the slightly disgusted look Norma gave him.

"Sorry." he said.

"It's not your fault, Alex." Norma sighed. "I'm not used to being a cripple. It sucks."

He waited for her to go in first before following. Norma seemed to have trouble pulling off coat and Dylan had made two trips to the car and back before Alex finally had to intervene and help her take it off. What Norma lacked in coordination, she made up for in energy and aggravation.

"Hold still." Romero ordered when Norma tried to wiggle out of her coat at the same time he tried to pull the sleeve off. She didn't like to be told what to do, but stay still as he gently pulled the sleeve free and hung her coat on the hall tree without incident. Norman was still asleep and oblivious to the world in his other arm.

"Thank you." she said in irritation.

"You're welcome." he said.

"I'll just be glad when this stupid cast comes off." she sighed.

She glanced out the window at the driveway and saw that Dylan was still unloading the car.

"Will you help me put Norman to bed?" she asked and nodded to the boy's bedroom.  
"Yeah." Alex said.

~ The boy's room was spartan but it was clean and the beds were made. Alex noticed they had a few toys, but were not spoiled by an abundance of plastic garbage like some kids were.

Norma pulled back the covers of a twin sized bed and nodded for Alex to lay Norman down. He wasn't sure how to do this kind of thing and didn't want to wake him up.

"It's okay. When he's out, he's out." Norma said sensing Alex's hesitation.

Romero awkwardly put the two year old in the bed and Norman didn't even seem to notice the transfer. He looked away when Norma quickly and efficiently removed his shoes and pants so he could sleep better.

She covered him back up and closed the bedroom door so they were alone.

"So, what happened?" she asked. Her face worried and her eyes a magnificent royal blue that reminded him of spring flowers.

Alex swallowed hard and took a deep breath. He tried to meet her eyes but couldn't.  
"Oh." Norma moaned. He didn't have to say it. She knew just from the look on his face what Dylan had told him.

"It's going to be okay." he said. "Norma, it's going to be okay."

"Alex, did Zac… did he…" Norma gasped. Her good hand went to her chest and she was breathing hard.  
"No." Alex said quickly. "Dylan didn't indicate that Shelby did anything more than touch him. Dylan said he showed him some dirty magazines and that he made him feel guilty for looking at them. He just made Dylan touch him a few times and…"

"And?" Norma whispered. Her eyes wide with panic.

"Dylan said that Shelby touched him inappropriately. We think that's as far as it went." Alex said.  
"Should I take him to a doctor? What if…" Norma's hand went back to her chest.  
"You can take him to a doctor if you want." Alex said.

He glanced at Norman who slept on. Innocent to what was happening.

"I don't think it went beyond touching, Norma." he said. "I really don't."

"Oh." Norma cried softly. She covered her eyes with her hand and Alex resisted the urge to wrap his fingers around hers.

She looked up at him and smiled softly.  
"I should have seen it, Alex. I should have been able to stop it before it happened." she said.

"None of us saw it. None of us thought Shelby was capable of this." he told her. "You were on pain medication that caused you to sleep heavily. He took advantage of that. It's not your fault anymore than it's Dylan's fault." he told her.

"What happens now?" she asked softly.  
"Now." Alex said with a shrug. "Now, I'm waiting here till Wilson comes and talks to you. I'm pretty sure Shelby won't be in White Pine Bay much longer. He won't bother you."

"How do you know that?" Norma spat. Her face becoming angry. "He's a cop!"  
"Not anymore." Alex told her easily. He didn't know exactly what Wilson's plan was, but he was sure Zac Shelby wasn't a cop anymore.

"Well, he could still come by here. If he got fired because Dylan told, he's going to be really mad!" Norma whispered.  
"I'll take care of it." Alex told her.

"Take care of it." Norma looked at him suspiciously.

Alex felt uneasy when her eyes changed color like that. The rich blue had dissolved and her eyes became almost grey in color.

"Take care of it like with Sam?" she asked in a shaky voice. Her look was almost fearful of him.

"No." he whispered. "No, not like Sam."

There was a moment, just one, of tension between them. They both knew without saying a word that Alex had killed Sam for reasons that weren't on the official report.

Finally, Norma blinked and the spell was broken. Alex felt the rush of air fill his lungs again as they both became normal people once more.

"So, I may need to hang out here for a while tonight till Wilson tells me what to do. The dog to." he added.  
"I nearly had a heart attack when I saw it." Norma sighed. "Her." she corrected quickly. "When I saw her."

"Graceland." Alex said opening the boys bedroom door.  
"Graceland." Norma said with a false smile. They walked out into the kitchen to find the groceries were put away and Dylan had Graceland sitting with him on the couch watching TV.

"Mom, can the dog sleep with me tonight?" he asked when he saw Norma.

Alex made sure not to look back at Norma when he gave the order for Graceland to get of the couch. He wasn't ready to see her internal explosion of rage yet.


	21. Chapter 21

21.

~ "Dylan, you put all that away by yourself?" Romero asked skeptically. Norma smiled radiantly at the perfectly organized kitchen pantry.

"Yeah." the little boy said proudly.

"He even rotated the older stuff out front." Norma added.  
"All by yourself?" Alex asked in disbelief. Both the adults knew they were inflating the child's self confidence when asked about all the help he'd been giving his mother with her broken arm.

"Yeah." Dylan nodded.

"He even folds and puts away the laundry." Norma added. She'd taken out some vegetables from the fridge to start dinner with. Even with one arm in a cast, she could still cook well enough in her own kitchen. It was doing everything else in life that gave her trouble.

"Well, I'm very impressed." Alex said honestly. "You've been a big help to your mom and I'm proud of you."

"I can help you in your house." Dylan said earnestly.

"Oh, honey!" Norma said quickly. She tried to hide the embarrassment on her face, but she suddenly felt very warm. "Deputy Romero doesn't need you to go over to his house."

"It's okay, son." Alex nodded and Norma caught the faint hint of a smile on his face. "Why don't you go outside with Graceland?"

Norma was about to start chopping vegetables and stopped when she heard mention of that dog. She leaned over and spotted the large beast in her living room looking harmless and almost gentle. Dylan had it on the couch and had even asked if he could sleep with it tonight.

She'd told her son that Deputy Romero and the police dog weren't spending the night.

"Okay." Dylan said happily and Norma watched uneasily as her son and that dog went out into the back yard.

"Are you sure its safe?" Norma asked. "For him to be out there?"

"Oh, yeah. Bears hardly ever come this far into town." Alex said. He came up beside her and took the kitchen knife from out of her hands and started to cut the carrots.

"I think we need two hands for cutting vegetables." he told her.

"I meant the dog, Alex." Norma said cooly. She leaned against the counter and watched him slowly cut vegetables with less precision than she did even with her arm in a cast.

"Oh." Alex said with a false surprise. "Oh, yeah. They'll be fine. I though you were worried about bears."

"You know I wasn't!" Norma said and felt that embarrassing warmth trickle up her cheeks again. She knew her face was turning red and couldn't help it.

"Graceland isn't going to hurt Dylan." Alex said.

"She's not sleeping with him either." Norma said. "I don't know where he got that idea."

"Keep your voice down, you're going to wake the baby." Alex scolded. He turned back to her and gave her a teasing grin.

She looked down the hall and into the boys room. Norman was sleeping peacefully. Dead to the world. He'd be out till dinner at least.

"He's fine." Norma hissed in an annoyed whisper. Why did it feel like they were suddenly in the school yard and he'd just pulled her hair? Would it be rude of her to kick him in the shins just now?

She went to her well organized pantry and brought out the pasta. Took a pan from the cupboard and set water to boil. Norma decided that she liked having Alex here in the kitchen with her. He wasn't intrusive like Shelby had been. He didn't dominate and didn't make a bigger mess that she would have to clean up. Instead, Alex was willing to work with her. He asked what needed to be done next and it was clear he was used to working well with others and not getting in the way. She normally didn't like sharing her kitchen, but with Alex it felt different. If felt domestic and comfortable. Like maybe they could do this forever. That it would be easy enough for them to settle into a daily routine of cooking dinner together when they got home. They could put Norman down for his nap and then send Dylan out to play with the dog.

Alex had looked alarmingly heroic with her youngest son in his arms. She had lost almost all focus when she saw him like that. Her helpless little child looked so protected and safe cradled against the body of this strong man in uniform. Norma felt too weak to even turn the key in her front door or even take off her coat. Luckily Alex had been there to help her. His hands were gentle and secure as they always seemed to be. He'd carried Norman to the boy's room and laid him out in his bed like they were a real family.

She shook her head at the idea. She couldn't be setting up her hopes for a new man. Not when she hadn't even gotten rid of the old one yet.

"Why did you name the dog Graceland?" she asked after they were happily working together at the task of cooking for a while. Neither one of them talking much and enjoying the comfortable silence.

"My mother. She was a big Elvis fan." Alex explained slowly. "She had all his records. She married my father because he she thought he looked like Elvis."

"Oh." Norma said. She could sympathize with a woman falling for a man who looked like Elvis. Something about a boy who was tall dark, handsome and brooding. Who could resist?

"Young Elvis or Old Elvis?" she asked suddenly.

Alex grinned. That wonderful grin she so rarely saw that transformed his whole face for the better.

" **Young** Elvis, Mrs. Bates. I'll have you know my old man was pretty good looking back in the day. Us Romero men were once known for our dashing looks and charming personalities."

"And now you're just known for dashing good looks?" Norma asked. She shocked even herself that the words came out so easily and that she'd managed to keep her face so strait and serious. Alex's brows went up in surprise, but he didn't look angry.

"I choose not to be insulted by that, Mrs. Bates." he said. His voice kind as they both went back to the satisfying chores of cooking. Norma could tell that he wasn't at all upset by what she'd said. If anything, it had amused him.

She wanted to ask him something else, but her kitchen phone rang sharply and Alex moved away from her. The feeling like they were sharing the domestic life together suddenly falling away.

She didn't question why Alex was answering her home phone. Didn't want to run the risk of Shelby calling her and having to talk to him. As soon as Alex answered the phone, his masculine voice gruffly saying 'hello' he turned to her and gave her a look of annoyance before hanging up.

"Shelby?" she asked.

"Hang up. So I think it was, yeah." he said. "That's why I answered. If he knows I'm here, he'll stay away."

"He's that scared of you?" Norma asked hopefully.  
"Wouldn't you be?" Alex asked. He moved back to the counter where they were working on dinner together. "I mean, look what happened to the last guy I caught giving you a hard time." he added softly.

Norma drew in a deep breath. She regretted bringing up Sam. Suggesting that it was murder at all when it wasn't. Not in her mind anyway. Sam Bates would have killed her and they both knew it. He might have even killed the boys while he was it if Alex hadn't showed up when he did.

"Alex, I shouldn't have brought up Sam before. I'm sorry." she whispered.

"No. You were right. I'm sure you think that's all I know." he said.

"No, that's not true." Norma insisted.

Alex turned to her and she felt her breathing stop and her heart rate pick up. He'd never looked at her like that before. Like he could lean into her and kiss her. Kiss her like they were just normal people. People who didn't have such wreckage and ruin between them. People who didn't have an estranged husband bleed out on this same kitchen floor a few weeks ago.

She blinked and found that the spell still wasn't broken. Their gaze still held even with the smell of dinner cooking and Alex standing so close to her. His head tilting in towards hers. His fingers wanting to lace in with hers.

"Alex, I don't think that." Norma said at last.

"What do you think?" he asked. His breath warm and soothing and his hip now resting nearer to hers.

"I think you wanted to save us." she admitted. "I think you… if you hadn't killed him… we would never be free. He would still be hurting us. I think you knew that."

"I shot him because I saw what he did to you." Alex whispered. "I saw what he did to your face, your arm. I shot him because I was angry. It's as simple as that. If I had the chance to do it over, I'd do it again." His face was cold and indifferent.

He looked away and out the window at Dylan playing with the dog in the backyard.

"If you want to know the truth, I wanted to go to Shelby's house and break both his legs today. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed. Wilson told me to come here and keep an eye on you and the boys." he said.

"You drew the short straw?" Norma teased.

Alex shook his head. His face serious. His face was always serious. She wondered if he ever got tired of being so stoic all the time.  
"He knew I wouldn't leave this house if I thought there was a chance any of you would be in danger. Hopefully, Shelby won't be stupid enough to come by." he said.

"Alex, why did you come that night? The night of the storm? How did you know?" she asked.

He looked away from her and she thought he wouldn't answer when the dog started barking long, angry and very loud barks.

Alex left her side and Norma felt cold without his warm presence there.

"Deputy Romero!" Dylan was shouting as he hurried back into the house. "It's a police car!"

Clearly he was worried Shelby had come back.  
"Go to your mom." Alex ordered calmly. The dog was still outside and barking like the world was about to end. Alex looked out the window as Dylan rushed to Norma.

"Hey, it's okay, it's probably just a patrol." she said. She tried to keep her voice calm, but could feel it waver slightly.

She noticed Alex's hand going to his backside where he had kept a sidearm well hidden. She didn't like the idea of a gun in her home, but was glad Alex had it.

"Dylan, will you go check on Norman?" she asked maneuvering her son away from the living room. She didn't want her son to see if things got serious.

"Its Sheriff Wilson." Alex said as soon as the dog stopped barking. He went to the front door and greeted the Sheriff at the driveway.

Norma breathed a sigh of relief and looked in at Norman who was still asleep.

"Dylan, it's the Sheriff. I want your to stay in your room until dinner is ready." she said.

"Am I in trouble?" her son asked. His face worried because so much had happened today and he surely felt it was all his fault.

"No, honey." Norma said and tired to smile.  
"Can Deputy Romero stay the night?" Dylan asked. "I like it when Graceland is here."

"Dylan…" Norma didn't know how to answer that. "I'll ask him to stay for dinner and that's the best I can do." she said before closing the door.

~ "Shelby agreed to leave town." Wilson said tersely. "Took a few men with me, put a good scare into him."

"Thought you were above that kind of thing." Alex said.  
"We didn't harm a hair on his pretty head if that's what you mean, Alex." Wilson said. "Washington and White went with me. When they're told to keep quite, they will take it to their graves, as you well know."

Alex nodded. Deputies Washington and White had no use for gossip. They always did as they were told and were military men like Alex had been.

"Sometimes the Old Bear's tactics work very well, Alex." Wilson explained.

"If Shelby shows up here?" Alex nodded to the house.

Wilson reached into the cab of his patrol car and took out a standard issue shot gun. It was the kind that only needed to be fired once to kill a man. The Sheriff made sure it was loaded before handing it to his Deputy.

"Keep that out of reach of the children and I'd like for you to stay and keep watch for the rest of the night. Keep that dog of yours with you to." Wilson glared at Romero and Alex felt slightly uncomfortable. "I know what an inconvenience it is for you, Deputy. Staying overnight at Mrs. Bates' house."

Alex gave Wilson a sneering look that said he knew what that meant.

"Mrs. Bates." Wilson said loudly. "How are we holding up?"

"We're alright, Sheriff." Norma said. Alex stepped away from Norma when she joined them in the driveway. She looked at the shotgun in his hand and he could tell that she didn't like the idea of it in her house near her children. She didn't say anything, but one look spoke volumes with Norma Bates.

Graceland maneuvering close to her made her jump slightly at the contact of a wet nose on her bare leg.

"Zac Shelby is leaving town and won't be back." Wilson said calmly. "You can press charges if you want. That is your right. I feel I need to warn you that Dylan will have to testify before a judge if you do. Not in a courtroom, but at city hall. He'll have to undergo a medical exam and see a court appointed therapist. Given his age, it will be a lot for the child to deal with. That is your choice to make sure Zac Shelby is one the sex offender registry so it will be easier to prosecute the next time."

"Next time? What do you mean? Zac won't serve any jail time? He won't even be arrested?" Norma asked. Her expression shocked.

"No." Wilson said. "Non violent crime that we can't prove and it's Dylan's word against a well respected member of the community. Well, **former** member of the community. He was politely asked to leave today by myself and a few other men. No one else knows about this but us three and Dylan and if you want it to stay that way, that's fine by me. If you want to go to court, we can do that to."

"No." Norma said quickly. She shook her head and her hand went to her throat. "No, Dylan has been through enough. Sam dying and what Shelby did. I just want it to be over. We just need all of this to be over and to go back to normal."

"I think that's for the best." Wilson said. "If I thought Zac could serve jail time, I would do something different, but the system isn't perfect. This is the best I can do for you and for your boy."

Norma looked especially pale and heartbroken at the news that there would be little justice for her son.

"No, I… I just don't want Zac to come back here." she said at last.

"He won't." Wilson said. "Now if it's alright with you, I'd like for Deputy Romero here to keep watch over you and your boys for the night. That dog of his is the best alarm system you could ask for and Alex isn't too bad himself. I'm sure Shelby remembers what happened to Sam Bates and isn't dumb enough to cross him."

Alex and Norma exchanged side long looks.

"That's fine." Norma said at last. "I think my boys like the dog."

"That's good." Wilson said. "Romero, let me know if there is any trouble."

"Yes, sir." Alex nodded.

Alex and Norma watched the Sheriff climb into patrol car and drive around the dead end street before leaving them. Dusk was already settling over the trees and it would be dark soon.  
"I think dinner's almost ready." Norma said after the stillness of the evening had given them a peaceful moment together. "I should get Norman up from his nap."

"Alright." Alex said.

"You need to hide that shot gun where Dylan won't find it." she said.  
"I will." he assured her.

~ "Okay, try it again." Alex said to Dylan as he corrected his stance and grip on the baseball bat. Shelby hadn't been doing the child any favors with his teaching methods in little league.

"Elbows in. Remember, step into the ball." Romero said and guided Dylan like he was teaching him to dance.

"No bats in the house!" Norma complained so loudly that Graceland barked from fright. Alex and Dylan both jumped when they saw Norma looking angrily at them. She'd come in from the boy's room and had a sleepy looking Norman on her hip. The toddler indifferent to Romero's presence just now.  
"I was just correcting his swing." Alex said innocently.

He wondered how he could work it into a casual conversation that he'd been captain of his High School varsity team three years running, gone to state twice, won one, and even had a chance to go pro. He'd find a way somehow.

However, Norma didn't seem impressed either way just now.

"Not in the living room." she scolded in a tone that meant no more arguments would be permitted. She helped Norman onto his booster seat at the table.

Dylan stashed away the bat and Alex helped her to bring the food to the table.

"Here, this is for the dog." she said. She gave Alex a large bowl of steamed rice and fried eggs and bacon.

"Wow, Graceland. Someone likes you." Alex said setting the bowl down for the German Shepard to enjoy.  
"Well, I don't have dog food." Norma explained. "I'd rather not have her begging at the table for scraps."

"Well, thank you for thinking of her." Alex said and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt so he could wash his hands for dinner.

Norma was busy helping Dylan put a napkin in his lap and food on his plate.

"Dylan, I need to ask you something." Romero said once he'd joined Norma and the boys at the place she'd set for him at the head of the table.

He wasn't sure why, but he felt honored that she'd given him this place next to her. Norma had her youngest child by her side to help him eat dinner and Dylan across from her, but she'd specifically sat Alex at the head, as if he were apart of the family and not a last minute uninvited guest.

"What?" Dylan asked. Already he had started eating some of the stir fried veggies.

"Well, Sheriff Wilson wanted me to stay and keep an eye on things just for tonight. I wanted to ask you if that's okay. I mean, this is your home to. I'd understand if you didn't like someone staying here overnight. You know, sleeping on the couch and all." Alex nodded to the big comfortable sofa in the living room.

He didn't leave it in the air of where he'd be sleeping tonight. Didn't give to Norma or anyone else to wonder where he'd be sleeping and where she'd be sleeping. No, Norma Bates would be in her bed and he'd be on the couch.

"That's okay." Dylan said eagerly. "You can stay here as long as you want and Graceland can sleep with me. Mom doesn't mind, she likes having you here."

"Okay, Dylan." Norma said cooly. "Eat your dinner and I think you need an early bed time tonight."

 **Sorry this chapter didn't match the teaser on Instagram. I threw some Normero FLUFF in. Just for fun.**


	22. Chapter 22

22.

~ Alex had to admire Norma's efficacy when it came to wrangling two young boys into bath time and bedtime. First Norman was given a quick bath by his mother while Romeo and Dylan cleared the table and by the time they started to load the dish washer, the youngest child was already in his pajamas and ready for bed.

"That was fast." Alex commented.

"Dylan, go run your bath water, brush your teeth and get your pajama's out." Norma ordered. She directed Norman to the boys room and let him play quietly with some stuffed animals till it was time for them both to be tucked in.

"Okay." Dylan said without argument. Clearly Norma ran a tight ship that would put most sea captains to shame. Alex was reminded of what the daycare owners had said about Norma just that morning.

"You don't have piano." he said.

Norma had made sure that her youngest wasn't getting into trouble and her oldest was getting ready for bath time. She turned to him in surprise.

"What?" she asked.

Freddie and Tara… t-told me this morning how you play piano a-at the daycare." Alex said. That troublesome stutter coming back to him now that she was glaring at him with eyes that made him forget how to breathe right.

"And?" Norma asked.

"Well, I'm just surprised, I mean, you don't have a piano… here… at the house." he said and waved in the direction of the living room.  
"I don't hear the water running!" Norma called out in the direction of the home's only bathroom.

Romero and Norma waited in silence till the tell-tell flood of water rushed into the bathtub and the sounds of Dylan brushing his teeth could be heard.

"We were grateful the house came with furniture at all." Norma said. "A piano would be asking for a bit much. Besides, I have to budget everything. Dylan needs new shoes and Norman is outgrowing everything faster than I can replace it. A piano is not high on my list of priorities right now."

"Right." Alex nodded. "Sorry. I just… um…" he wanted to mention how he had a piano at his parents old house. How it had belonged to his mother and how she had played on it on her good days. How he'd kept it covered and didn't even go into the family homestead after his father's arrest. He wanted to tactfully offer her the piano now, but felt she would be suspicious of the offer. Perhaps rightfully so. Norma seemed to have poor luck sometimes. He understood why she'd have trust issues.

"Let me help." He said and they started to rinse and load up the dishwasher with dirty dishes. This was a chore he remembered well as a child. He always helped his mother with cooking and cleaning up. Never thinking of it as woman's work. He was glad he could ease her loneliness and her burden of household chores. She enjoyed his company to and it was their time away from the Old Bear who watched the game on TV in his study. Even after Alex got into baseball, he never joined his father to watch the game. He never had any desire to bond with the Old Bear.

"Where did you learn to play?" Alex asked after a while.

"Oh." Norma sighed and she looked slightly happy. She had swiftly finished loading the dishwasher, turned it on and wiped down the countertop. A little smile on her face as she remembered.  
"When I was little, we didn't have any money." she said. Her face was soft and almost happy at the memory. "My... well my brother… he would mow lawns. Do chores to make extra money for us. He was good about that."

Her voice wavered slightly and she looked at the bathroom room door. The water had stopped running and they could both hear Dylan talking and playing with bath toys in the tub.

"There was an older woman, Miss Hews, who was a piano teacher. My brother would mow her lawn and take care of her garden and do chores everyday in exchange for piano lessons for me after school. She was glad to teach me because she said I wanted to learn. I just remember that she was so old!" Norma smiled.

Alex could easily picture a smaller version of Norma. Perhaps having that same, sad look she always had on her face. Sitting dutifully at a large piano while an old woman taught to her.

"I didn't realize until I was older what a gift my brother had given to me. That woman had a big house and gardens and Caleb was always tired when we went home. I remember I took piano lessons for an entire school year from Miss Hews and then we moved. I can't remember if I ever took lessons again, I think maybe in High School I played piano. I had to re-learn how to read sheet music. It's amazing that I can still remember, I was so young when I had lessons." she said wistfully.

"You're a natural." Alex suggested.

She shrugged.  
"Maybe." she sighed. Her face looked sad for a moment and just for that moment, Alex saw the little girl she had been. A child, much like Dylan who was too young to already be so scorned and jaded to the world. He could understand why her brother had wanted to give her piano lessons. Something that would bring her joy in the same way that Norma wanted to give Dylan new shoes.

"I'm a terrible mother." she said softly.  
"Why would you say something like that?" Alex asked. He was expecting her to relate another charming story of her childhood. Another Walton family style upbringing that would shed light on why she was such a fascinating mystery to him.

"I let this… this thing with Shelby happen. Look what he did to my son." she said.

"You're not a bad mother, Norma." Alex said. He was horrified to see her blinking back tears.

"The worst part is that I actually let myself like him a little. He… he was very charming. He completely fooled me. I'm so stupid. I didn't protect my son from a monster." she said with such a self loathing Alex felt worried.  
"Norma, a bad mother keeps the monster around her kids even after she finds out what he's done. A bad mother doesn't do anything to protect her kids. Doesn't believe her kids when they tell her things are wrong. A bad mother cares more about herself and her happiness. You're not stupid, Norma. Don't ever say that again. When Dylan told you something was wrong you immediately went for help. Like a good mother would do." he said.

She looked up at him and he saw tears lingering in her eyes. They still sparkled like gem stones and he felt weak at the sight of them.

"You suspected something wasn't right and even without proof, you did what?" he asked. She smiled and looked slightly guilty.

"I went to you." she said sadly.

"Yeah, you tracked me down and made me listen to you. Would a bad mother do that?" he asked.

"No." she said miserably.

"You're not a bad mother. Don't blame yourself because he fooled you, that son of a bitch fooled all of us." Romero growled.

"I was just hoping this time it would be different." Norma said. "That I would finally…" she looked up at him and he saw her cheeks go slightly red.  
"I should go check on Dylan. I'll get you some sheets and blankets for the sofa." she said and quickly turned away from him.

~ Norma quickly made Alex a place to sleep on the sofa while he did his own night time bathroom rituals. He hadn't planed to stay the night, so he'd be sleeping in his clothes, but she had an new toothbrush for him at least.

"Are you sure you'll be okay out here?" Norma asked. That dog had, without asking, settled itself on her favorite chair beside the couch and seemed to think it would sleep there tonight.

"Yeah, I've slept in worse places." Alex said happily. "Besides, I'll have a good view of the street from the window and Graceland will wake me if anyone comes by."

"Where's that shot gun?" she asked nervously.

He nodded to the china cabinet behind her. She had no fancy china of course, but the boys filled it with homemade craft projects for her.

"On top of the cabinet. Doubt anyone in this house can get to it but me." he said calmly.

Norma wrapped her sweater tighter around her chest. She wasn't really cold, but hated the gun in her house.

"Good." she said.  
"It's going to leave with me in the morning." Alex assured her.

"Good." she nodded. She was glad the gun was leaving, not Alex.

"So will the dog." he said.  
"Okay." she said and looked at the now much less harmful animal that seemed to want to like her. Ever since she'd started cooking bacon and eggs for it, the beast seemed to sense it was for her. Graceland looking at Norma like she wanted to be friends.

"Alright, I'm going to read to the boys and then… Okay, good night." she said and backed away from her unexpected house guest.

~ "I like having Deputy Romero here." Dylan said when Norma noticed that her youngest had already fallen asleep when she was halfway through story time. She and Dylan moved out of Norman's bed and into his bed for the rest of their reading ritual.

"Oh?" Norma asked. "I thought you just liked the dog."

"No. I like the dog and him here." Dylan said. "I don't feel nervous when he's here."

"I'm glad, honey. But it's just for one night." Norma told him.  
"Maybe you could marry him and then he could be our new dad. Then he'd always be here." Dylan offered logically.

Norma closed the book and put it back on the shelf. She pulled the covers back over Dylan and smoothed out his fair hair.

"I don't think I'm going to get married again, honey." she said. "I don't think Deputy Romero want's to get married anyway. Maybe he wants to be single. Some men are like that."

"Deputy Romero likes the way you cook. He ate everything on his plate and wanted seconds. I don't think he likes being single that much, mom." Dylan pointed out.  
"Well, I'm not looking to get married. So stop playing matchmaker." Norma said gently. She smiled at her troublesome, but lovable, son.

"What's matchmaker?"

"It's someone who tires to get two people to fall in love and get married." Norma explained.

"You need to get married mom. To someone who's good at baseball and who is nice to you." Dylan said.

"I need a lot of things, sweetheart, but a husband isn't one of them." Norma laughed.

"Deputy Romero is good at baseball. He played and won a lot he said. He said he was a _variety_ Captain when he was in school." Dylan said.

"I think you mean _Varsity_ Captain." Norma said after some thought. "That's very impressive, Dear. Maybe he can coach your little league."

"If you got married, you wouldn't be sad anymore. You're never sad when Deputy Romero is around." Dylan said.

Norma was taken aback by that. She wasn't aware her son thought that about her.

"You think I'm sad?" she asked.

Dylan looked ashamed he had even brought it up, but he nodded.

"You think I'm not sad around Alex?" she asked.

"No, you smile more and he smiles more to. You don't seem so angry after you see him either." Dylan said.

"Well, I'm sorry if I've been angry sometimes." Norma said. She was kneeling on the side of Dylan's bed and looked thoughtfully at her son. She knew he was probably telling the truth about her sadness and her anger. She hadn't been good at hiding any of it since he'd been born.

"Sometimes, I'm angry and I can't help it. I feel powerless and it makes me mad." Norma explained carefully.

Dylan looked at her soberly and nodded.

"Things are getting better though, right?" she asked hopefully. Dylan's expression remained unchanged.

"They will get better." Norma promised. "We just have to give it time. We can't rely on someone else to fix our problems for us. It's nice having Deputy Romero here, I know, but we have to work out our own lives. Right?"

Dylan looked annoyed with her and rolled over in bed.

~ Norma tried to shake off the feeling of guilt her son left her with. She went to the bathroom and ran the shower, long enough for the water to warm up.

She quickly stripped naked and wrapped her cast with a small plastic garbage bag so it wouldn't get wet. She couldn't wait for this thing to come off. The doctor already warning her about scaring from the surgery and pins. She didn't care at this point. She examined her naked body in the mirror before the steam fogged the glass up.

The bruising had healed to her face already and nowhere were there signs of the attack from Sam. She ran a hand over her belly where she still had no evidence of two pregnancies. No stretch marks or sagging of the breasts. At least that she could tell. One of the advantages of having her children at an age when most young women were finishing high school or starting college. She was thankful her body had recovered so well from having her children and that Sam had showed no interest in her sexually after Norman was born. Indeed, Sam hated a crying baby in the house and spent most of his time away from them.

Norma had eaten right and went for daily walks with the boys after giving birth. She'd always been too thin as a child, and as a teenager, she'd bloomed into womanhood.

Norma ran a hand over her breasts and then down her waistline. Admiring how well the arch in her back curved and how her back was smooth and flawless. How her butt wasn't a firm as it could be, but was a nice shape.

She felt her face grow warm at the thought of what Alex might think of her body. If he would be disgusted by her knobby knees and how her stomach wasn't so flat as the other women he could probably get. Other women also didn't have two kids hanging off them and tons of emotional baggage. Still, Alex was sleeping on her couch tonight. Alex wanted to hurt Shelby for her. Had even asked her about playing piano; like he was interested in her life beyond his duties as a Sheriff's Deputy.

Norma shook her head.

It wouldn't work. Never in a million years with her and Alex. He was smart, educated and had a legitimate career with a future. He'd be Sheriff soon enough and an elected official with a college degree. Who was she? She'd barely finished the night school classes that let her graduate High School. She was a tarnished woman with a mess of a family that she couldn't tell anyone about. Alex was the first soul she had ever mentioned having a brother to before.

Not even Dylan and Norman knew about Caleb.

Norma refused to look at her reflection and showered quickly. She washed her hair and dressed in the black night dress. She hadn't intentionally planned to wear this to bed. It was a little sexy and that was why she had bought it to start with. She had wanted to feel a little more like a woman and less like a mommy.

It was the only thing she had clean just now. Her life too crazy these past few days and she hadn't had time to do laundry.

She pulled on the powder blue, vintage style, robe she'd found at the resale boutique downtown. It was a steal and at the same time a splurge for her to buy. Yet she bought it because she felt like some kind of Hollywood starlet when she wore it. It's long hem trailing all the way to her feet and it was the kind of thing Joan Crawford would have worn back in her prime. Only, Miss Crawford would have worn red, not powder blue. Luckily, Norma always wore blue; if give the choice.

She crept out of the bathroom and spotted Alex on the couch. She couldn't tell if he was sleeping or not. She secured her robe tighter around her body and slipped into her bedroom.

She kept her lights off and shed the robe almost as theatrically as Miss Crawford would, before diving into her lonely bed. She wrapped her good arm around her waistline as tough it were someone else's hand touching her tonight. She knew she looked good in the black slip. Better in the nude colored one, but good in the black one. Her thoughts drifted to having Alex in bed with her. Of feeling protected with him there. Not in the same way Shelby said he would protect her. Shelby felt smothering with affection and a need to please her.

Alex… Norma was seized with the irrational idea of walking out into her own living room naked and telling him he didn't have to sleep on the couch. That he needed to stop being so polite to. This thought made her happy and she quickly feel asleep.

~ She woke up to the flash of headlights shinning in her bedroom window. Norma sat bolt upright out of bed and was wide awake as soon as her feet hit the floor. She threw on her robe and didn't bother to tie it before opening the door.

Alex was already pulling the shot gun down from the china cabinet and Graceland was growling a low and angry growl at the large bay window.

"Shelby's here." Norma said.

"I know." he said as he opened the shot gun to check it was still loaded.

"Should I call 911?" she asked.  
"No." Alex told her quickly. "I want you to lock and bolt the door behind me and Graceland. Then I want you to go to the kitchen. Call 911 only if you hear gun shots. Not before. Understand?"

She nodded.

"Understand?" Alex repeated harshly.

"Call 911 only if I hear gun shots." she said.

"I'll be right back. Everything's going be fine." he said and he opened the front door, allowing only the dog to come with him. Norma promptly closed it behind him and turned the deadbolt.

She could hear everything that Alex and Zac were saying from the kitchen's open window.


	23. Chapter 23

23.

~ "What are you doing here, Romero?" Shelby demanded. His voice was already slurred and Alex was surprised he hadn't crashed the new truck his father had bought for him earlier that year. He must have spent the night drinking after Wilson had fired him and told him he knew about Dylan.

"Could ask you the same thing, Zac." Alex said lazily. He carefully looked Shelby over and saw the former deputy wasn't armed, but that didn't mean he couldn't be hiding a weapon somewhere. It was just like him to come to this house and try to intimidate the victim's mother. Coward.

Zac pointed to the darkened front door.

"I'm here to talk to Norma." he said angrily. "I know she's in there."

"That's not going to happen, Zac." Alex said cooly. Graceland positioned herself out in front of Romero and bared her teeth at Shelby. She'd never liked him and now had the perfect chance to maul him. All she needed was the command. The low, intimidating growl stating deep in her throat was reminiscent of her mighty wolf ancestors protecting the pack from would be interlopers.

As for Alex, he shocked even himself at how calm he remained. He felt a sickness twist in him with a force stronger than any he had ever known, yet he stayed calm.

"Who the hell are you to decide who she talks to?" Shelby snarled. "Norma! Get out here! Right now!"

Graceland gave a savage bark and snarled like she'd gone rabid. Shelby backed away.

"Heel." Romero ordered in a dead voice.

Alex shifted his stance and casually revealed the shot gun that had been beside his leg.

"You need to think very carefully about this, Zac." he said once he was sure Shelby had the chance to take in the damage such a weapon could do. Not to mention the dog. The rumor was that Romero had trained Graceland to attack a man's genitals when given a specific command. Alex had done nothing to discourage the rumor either. Romero's voice was indifferent. He didn't stutter at all. "Right now, no one but Wilson and I know all the sick details of what you did to that child, Zac. It can stay that way if you leave right now. If you don't?"

Alex pretended to consider the other options in mockery of Shelby's life choices.

"Well, one phone call to Sybil Lawson is all it will take. You may not go to prison, but everyone in town will know exactly what you did. They'll believe it to. No one likes a child molester, Zac." Romero finished.

"I didn't DO anything." Shelby spat. "I was trying to-"

"Stop it." Alex ordered gently. He shook his head at the mere suggestion Zac was the wronged party. "Dylan told us everything. Lot's of details about your mind games with dirty magazines. He would be a great witness for the DA. You'll have to register as a sex offender wherever you go." he said.

"This is my hometown, Alex." Shelby told him. Bitterness was raw in his tone now. "You expect me to leave the town I grew up in?"

Alex shrugged and put on that indifferent voice that served him so well.

"Well, the alternative isn't so good, Zac." he said. "At least this way you can visit the old man for Christmas with your head high and minimal scandal. At least this way no one has to know what a sick piece of shit you really are."

Shelby looked offended.

"I'm not a faggot." he snarled. His pride wounded.

"Never thought you were." Alex told him cooly. "You better go home and pack. Leave now, and I won't call you in for driving under the influence."

"I want to hear that Norma wants me to leave. I bet she didn't buy this shit for a second." Shelby said. "I bet you made all this up just to get in her panties. That's all you wanted from day one. Everyone in town knows that's why you shot her husband. So that she'd be available to you. That's why you're here now isn't it? Playing house? Teaching Dylan to lie about me? Get me out of the picture so you can fuck her? Yeah, you're finding out that she's a real bitch. Stone cold in bed to. No wonder her husband beat her. She deserved it."

Graceland barked and almost lunged at Shelby. The drunk moved backwards and almost fell.

Alex was glad Norma couldn't hear that last part. Glad he hadn't lost his temper and shot Zac Shelby's face off.

Romero raised the shot gun and aimed it right at Shelby. Zac took another step back.

"Last chance. You can still walk away from this. Forget it ever happened. I think you're getting off too easy, but it wasn't my call to make." he said. This time, Romero's voice did quiver. This time, Alex wasn't so sure he wouldn't pull the trigger.

Norma would never forgive him if he killed two men in as many months at her home. She would defiantly leave town if he killed Shelby now.

Shelby glared at Romero for a long time and Alex waited for the torrent of profanity that should have spewed out of the drunk's mouth. All that happened was Zac flipped him off, climbed back into the truck, turned his music up to full volume, drove recklessly down the lane, did a U-turn that almost wrecked him, and sped away.

Graceland didn't stop growling until she could no longer hear the truck's engine. She turned to Romero and gave him an appraising look and a wag of her tail.

"Good, girl." he said. He put the safety back on the shot gun and breathed a sigh of relief.

The sound of locks turning on the front door made Graceland's tail wag harder and Alex turned to see Norma's pale face emerge in the doorway.

"Hey, it's okay. He's gone. He was just drunk. He's not coming back." Alex said quickly when he saw that she'd been crying. She looked upset. More upset than he'd ever seen her before and her breathing was shallow and rapid.

"Norma?" he asked when her expression looked strange to him. Like she was confused and panicked. He stepped back inside the house with the dog and placed the shot gun back on top of the china hutch.

Without effort, she was in his arms. She embraced him with such savagery, it was like she feared for her life if he let go. He felt her slight body fiercely hug him as if she wanted to meld into him. Her tear stained face was red and she was gasping for air.  
"Norma?" he said when he realized she was having trouble breathing. Her fingers were pulling hard on his shirt like a drowning woman and a rasping gasp came deep from her chest.

"Norma, what's wrong?" he asked. He pulled away from her and saw that her eyes were wide and her focus was no longer on him. She was looking at some far off point in the distance and was still gasping for air. Her whole body trembling now.

"Norma, I need you to breathe." he ordered. She allowed him to guide her like an invalid, while making slight whimpering sounds that weren't quite words.

"He…" she gasped before she seemed unable to say anything again.  
Alex made her sit down on the couch next to him. Graceland, sensing that Norma was in distress, settled herself nearby and watched anxiously.

"He's gone, Norma." Alex told her calmly. "Breathe. In through your nose, out through your mouth."

He demonstrated by breathing long deep breaths through his nose and out his mouth as she watched. Her hands were shaking and unable to let go of him. Her own breathing still unable to find stable ground as she gripped his hand harder than he thought possible.

"Norma, you're having a panic attack. That's all." Alex explained in a soothing voice he learned from the nurses who took care of his mother on her bad days.

She looked at him and tried to form more words, but they wouldn't come.  
"Look at me. Breathe. Come on, just breathe for me." he said as though she were a child.

She made a visible effort to breathe through he nose and out he mouth. The action seeming unnatural, like a fish out of water.

"Good. Once more." he said. The hand that Norma didn't have in a death lock, went to her back and he started making long circular movements to ease the anxiety. Almost immediately he felt her muscles start to relax at his touch.

"Keep breathing for me. Come on." he said when she was making loud, labor like breathing noises the were coming easier. She wasn't crying anymore and she'd stopped shaking. She still hadn't been able to speak yet.

"It's just a panic attack. Zac showing up, everything you've been through these past few months." Alex said in a whisper. His free hand moving a circular movement around her back till her spine relaxed.

"I never…" she managed to say at last.

"Shhh. Just keep breathing." he said.  
"I…" she took a deep breath. "I never had sex with Zac."

Alex leaned away from her in surprise. Norma shook her head.  
"I never did. He… We never… I told him no. He thinks I deserved what Sam did to me?" Norma asked and her breathing started to grow rapid again.  
"Norma, deep breaths." Alex said calmly. "Shelby said that to hurt me. Just breathe nice and slow for me now. Come on, you have this."

She closed her eyes and took long breaths that seemed to break her out of the attack. Tears started falling down her face again and she relaxed more as he rubbed her back.  
"I'm sorry." she said at last.  
"What do you have to be sorry for?" Alex asked. He slipped his hand off her back when he felt her body return to normal. It felt intrusive now that she was able to breathe right again.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. Sometimes… I don't know why." Norma shook her head and looked angry at herself.  
"It's a panic attack. Guys I was stationed with in Iraq got them all the time." Alex explained. "Nothing to be ashamed of. You learn how to deal with it."

"That's war. I'm not at war, Alex." Norma bitterly.

"A mother fearing for the lives of her children isn't the same as a going to war?" Alex asked honestly.

Norma looked at him thoughtfully. Her head tilted to one side as her normally beautiful face was stained with tears. Alex had let his eyes wander down to the hallow of her throat and notice her robe was open. He saw the black night slip she had on under it, the way it hugged her body like a second skin. How firm and delightful her breasts looked being caressed by the seductive dark fabric.

He felt the pull off attraction draw him in and he couldn't look away for a moment. His gaze was so long in fact that she noticed him staring at her body. She quickly covered the night slip with her robe and looked away from him.

"Um, let me get you some orange juice." Alex said awkwardly.

"Do you think Zac will be back?" Norma asked while he was in the kitchen. He was kicking himself for staring at the shape of her breasts when she needed him as a friend now. The last thing she needed was another complicated love interest.

"No." Alex said bringing back a glass of orange juice to find Graceland was resting her head on Norma's lap. Norma, finally, was petting the savage attack dog.

"Yeah, she's a good dog." Norma said softly.

"Good girl." Alex said to Graceland.

"I'd like it if you and Graceland could come over more. Dylan was happy you were here." Norma said without looking at him.

Alex made a point of not looking at Norma. Instead, they both focused on the distraction of the dog as she drank her juice.

"Wilson… um… he wouldn't like that. People talk in this town, Norma." he explained.

"They think you killed Sam because you're attracted to me." Norma told him effortlessly.

He slowly looked back at her and she was unflinching when she met his gaze.

He felt his courage rise up and he was unapologetic about what he said next.

"They're not wrong." he admitted. His heart beat faster when he said it and he wished for a moment he could take it back. He wasn't used to admitting these things to a woman.

Norma looked slightly heartbroken.

"Alex." she whispered and finally looked him again. "You-you don't have to sleep on the couch tonight."

"Yes, I do." Alex said tersely.

Her refused to look back at her. A pain sharper than any he felt before pierced through him. Maybe the pain was so intense because it was self inflicted. He looked at his hands and watched his own fingers flex in and out.

"If I don't sleep on the couch tonight… I-I won't be able to let you go. I have to let you go, Norma. It's better this way." he said at last.

"No one would have to know." she whispered in the dark. "We'd be careful."

"They would find out. This is a small town, they always find out." he said.

He looked at her hands and saw them shaking slightly. Saw her finish her orange juice and stand up. He didn't look at her as she left him there alone.  
"Good night, Deputy Romero." she said passively.

"Goodnight, Mrs. Bates." he said bitterly. His jaw grinding hard at the idea of a happy future he'd just thrown away for a future he could barely tolerate.

 **Short Chapter, I know. I wanted to leave you all broken hearted for the rest of the week. LOL!**


	24. Chapter 24

24.

~ Norma had a hard time sleeping that night. She kept thinking their were headlights coming in through her bedroom window meaning that Shelby was back. Kept jumping awake at the slightest noise in the house.

She remembered nights like these when Sam had been drinking heavily. When she would dread him coming home stinking of booze and vomit. Nights like that, he would start yelling at her and breaking things. Little Norman would be crying in his crib and Sam would be shouting at her to keep that baby quite. How Sam would push her, with the infant still in her arms, to the floor and tell her exactly what he wanted her to do for him while he unbuckled his pants. Course Sam could hardly do much sexually after just a few minutes. Something he always blamed her for. Saying she'd let herself go after Norman was born and no wonder he couldn't get it up anymore.

Norma felt her body contract hard against the memory and had to remind herself that Sam was dead. That he'd bled out on her kitchen floor and he could never hurt her or her son's again. She'd never have to worry about a man barging into her home drunk and demanding some degrading sex act from her under threat of violence. She was free and she had Alex to thank for it.

She kept hoping that the door to her bedroom would open and that she'd hear footsteps coming towards her; trying to be quite but stumbling in the unfamiliar darkness. She kept imagining the neglected side of the mattress sagging as lean and exhausted body sink into it. She relaxed her breathing imagining Alex spooning against her. That her back was pressed against his chest and his arms were wrapped around her as if she were the most precious thing in the world to him.

They wouldn't need words if he came to her now. They wouldn't have to do anything other than sleep. She would understand if that was all he could give her tonight. That he couldn't commit to anything more lasting than just a few hours of serenity and blissful sleep next to her.

Norma hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep while imagining Alex in bed with her. She woke up to the noises of Dylan and Norman chattering away in the kitchen and found that she had slept past her usual get up time of 6 a.m. She was always an early riser. She had been, even as a young child. She liked to wake up with the birds singing.

She rolled over to the depressingly empty place in her bed and found it cold and unused. Alex hadn't joined her in the middle of the night. That had all been her own beautiful dream. Her own comfort to get her past the sting of rejection.

She didn't feel rejected though. Oddly enough, she didn't feel drained from he panic attack, but strangely energized and hopeful.

She shouldn't take such delight in the knowledge that Alex had killed Sam for hurting her, but the thought did make her smile. That sadistic part of her that couldn't forgive Sam Bates; even after death. Sam had hurt her too many times to cry over him now.

Norma put on her robe, checked her face in the mirror, and was thankful she had youth and vitality on her side. She was pleased to find she looked radiant even without makeup on. Her skin glowing with the early morning as if she'd had a peaceful night's sleep. She casually pinned her hair back and opened her bedroom door to the sounds of men in her house talking.

"It's about 20 feet long." Alex was saying to Dylan. Norma stayed perfectly still in the hallway and listened to their conversation. She had the rare opportunity to observe him interacting with her boys without him knowing she was there.  
"Can you take us on the boat? We can all go fishing together." Dylan asked. Norma didn't like where this conversation was going.

"Well, I'm not sure if your mom would like that." Alex said. Norma could just picture that sad face he made when he was faced with a hard fact.

She could hear the sounds of bowls on the kitchen table and the noises of cereal being poured into them. Alex had taken it upon himself to get the boys up and give them breakfast today.

"She loves fishing. She says she wants to go fishing with you!" Dylan said enthusiastically.

Norma had heard enough. She had to put a stop to this before Dylan signed them up for a wedding registry.

"Dylan." Norma said emerging from the hallway like a ghost. Dylan looked startled and so did Alex and Norman. She was pleased to see the deputy had taken the time to put her youngest in his booster seat and sit beside him so he could eat.

It was something Sam never did and he was the child's father.

"We're going to have a talk later." she told her oldest in a stern voice that meant he was in trouble.

Dylan looked sulky and Alex tried to lighten the mood.  
"I made coffee. Hope you don't mind, I got the boy's breakfast. Figured you'd want to sleep in a little." he said.

"I don't mind. Thank you." she said.

"Wilson is picking Graceland and I up in about twenty minutes." Alex said as the boys ate in silence.

Norma was slightly taken aback that he was leaving. She liked having him here. She even liked the dog here. She wasn't afraid of anything with Alex there. She finally understood what Dylan meant by not being nervous or scared with Alex around. How he had such a calming presence in their lives.

"So soon?" she asked. Her hands smoothed down her robe nervously and she tried to look indifferent but knew she wasn't good at hiding her emotions.

"Don't worry, I'll have someone drive past the daycare every half hour and your work is right across the street from the Sheriff's station." Alex said.

Norma gave him a perplexed look. She wasn't used to small town life and how everyone knew everything about everyone.

Alex shrugged and stood up. Dylan and Norman were eating peacefully by themselves and ignoring the adults.  
"I see you arriving to Hillary's every morning." Alex explained. He took down a clean coffee cup from the shelf and she shook her head.

"You do?" she asked. It felt slightly odd and flattering that he had been watching her without her knowledge. Like when he casually told her that someone, not him, could see right through her bedroom curtains at night.

She could only guess why he'd been able to glance at her window at night. Her's was the last house on a dead end street surrounded by woods. She never gave it a second thought to anyone driving past her window and seeing inside.

Besides, the worst he could have seen was her bedroom or maybe her in her bathrobe. She wasn't the type to prance around the house naked. Not with two young boys who had no concept of personal space. Dylan had a habit of jumping on her bed and Norman liked to hide in her closet and pull her dresses down off the hangers.

That was the worst Alex Romero could have seen. Although she tried to remember if she'd ever worn less than her robe in her bedroom at night. Her cheeks felt warm and she looked away from him.

"You were talking to the boys about fishing." Norma said trying to change the subject.

"Dylan wanted to know about it. I go with Tom every Sunday and this Sunday will be the first that I'll have to miss." he admitted.

"It's only seven." Norma shrugged.

Alex grinned. His whole face transforming and Norma felt her heart want to take flight. Wanted to smile with him even if she didn't get the joke.

"We usually get out on the lake at 4 a.m." he said.

"You're kidding!" Norma laughed. "I'm sure that will turn Dylan off to the idea."

"You know I was his age when I started to learn the sport of fishing." Alex said.

The adults watched the two boys eating breakfast before Norma felt the urge to question him.

"Fishing isn't a sport." she said.

"Sure it is." Alex said.  
"No." Norma said and felt her face suppress a laugh. "It's not like it's baseball or anything."

"It's still a sport. There's still rules and it's competitive, Norma." Alex told her.

She felt his eyes on her and chanced a look in his direction. She quickly looked back at the boys and tried not to smile. Romero was looking smugly at her and she could feel her face growing warmer. That feeling like they were in the school yard was back. Maybe he hadn't pulled her hair this time, but he was up to no good.

"It'd be nice to take you and the boys out on the bay sometime this summer. It's still too cold out for them right now. Even if it is spring." he said.

Norma felt her hands shake slightly.

"That would be nice." she said at last. "Norman would be too young of course."

"We could leave him with Tom and his wife for the day." Alex offered.

Norma could easily picture the three of them out on the bay on a peaceful dawn. Alex treating Dylan like he was his own son. It was a picture in Norma's mind that made her heart hurt. Hurt because it could never be real.

"That would be nice, but people would talk." she said softly. The image of them on a boat, Alex helping Dylan reel in a fish. Looking like a proud father to her son, faded away like smoke.

"People would talk." Alex breathed out.

Graceland, forgotten until now, gave out a bark and Alex turned to the kitchen window.  
"Toms' here." he said to Norma.

She nodded and presented her fake smile. As though everything would be fine now even though he was gone.

"Boys, I'm going to work." he said a little too cheerfully. "Dylan, you watch the house and take care of your mom."

"Okay." Dylan smiled.

Norma followed Alex out into the living room and saw the Sheriff's SUV waiting for Alex in her driveway. She watched as Graceland came to stand beside her master and saw Alex take down the shot gun from the top of her china cabinet, unload it, and pocket the shells.  
"You're really going to work?" she asked.

"No." he smiled that devilish smile of his. If his father, Old Bear, had been half as good looking, Norma didn't blame his mother for falling for him. "No, I didn't get much sleep last night. I've got the day off and I'm going to just go home. Don't worry, Shelby's gone already. I made some calls this morning and word is he's in Portland already."

"If he comes back?" Norma asked. She could imagine Shelby coming at her or Dylan.

Alex didn't seem worried.

"He's a coward, Norma. They don't like confrontation." he said. "He's not coming back."

She nodded.

"Okay." she sighed.

They stood awkwardly together for what seemed like forever. Wilson honked for Alex to hurry up.  
"I gotta go." Alex nodded and opened the door to let Graceland out.

"Alex!" Norma called and stopped him before he could leave. He turned back to her, giving her his full attention and she suddenly didn't want to say anything.

"I- I felt really safe… with you here." she admitted clumsily.

Alex looked slightly embarrassed. He looked away from her for a moment and she caught his eyes flicker up her body. Her robe had opened slightly revealing that black night dress.

"Oh…" he said and looked away again. She closed her robe more securely and tried not to meet his eyes.

"Thank you." he said.

As he left, he nodded to her and she had to pretend that they were, and would always be just friends.

~ "What is this?" Norma demanded. She feared the worst when, a week after Shelby left town, a moving van appeared on her driveway.

"You're Norma Bates?" the operator asked as an answer.

"Yes." she said defensively.

"I need you to sign here." the operator of the moving van said.

"What the hell is going on?" she exclaimed.

Since Shelby had left town so mysteriously, rumors had spread like wild fire. Everything from how he'd gotten some high school girl pregnant, to some torrent affair with a bank teller name Rebecca had made it to Norma's ears and she was still new in town. Not one word about Shelby and her son though. Not even a whisper of child molestation seemed to cross anyone's mind.

The ladies she worked with had asked Norma about Shelby's sudden exodus, she would shrug and say that he stopped being interested in her after what happened with Sam.

"All the buses and the broken arm." she explained.

"That pig!" the ladies exclaimed. All of them believing Zac Shelby was a womanizing dog who was simply run out of town for messing around with the wrong girl.

"Look, all I know is that I'm being paid to deliver to this address and to get the signature of Norma Bates." the operator said.

"Deliver? Deliver what?" Norma barked.

~ She could hardly believe such a thing had happened. The upright piano was cozy in it's new home by the large bay window. The delivery man was from a piano moving company who also took the liberty of tuning her new interment once it was properly settled next to the bay window.

He'd pronounced it sound and well cared for. Estimating it's age at over 50 years old.

"You can tell someone loved it." he'd said nodding to the keys that had gone slightly yellow with the oils of human touch. "All that good woodwork on the front. They hardly make that anymore."

Norma had been too enchanted by the sudden gift that befell her to question how it got there. Only later, when she'd played for the boys and her fingers danced over the first few notes of ' _I can't help falling in love with you'_ , did she put it all together.

~ "I didn't know you even played." Sybil said with an indifferent shrug. "Well that's good, dear. Got yourself a nice piano."

"Alex did this." Norma pointed to the elegant dark mahogany with it's carved roses that looked too nice to be in her home.

"Did what, dear?" Sybil asked innocently.

Norma glared at the older woman.

"Alex knew…" she said in exasperation. "He knew I played and saw I didn't have a piano and he even asked me about it when he stayed over."

"Little Bear stayed overnight?" Sybil asked. "Good for you, dear."

Norma rolled her eyes. Sybil wore a little amused smile that said she knew far more than she was letting on.

"He saw I didn't have a piano and knew I could play. He knew I couldn't afford one. Certainly not one like this." She waved at the beautiful thing that beckoned her even now. It's music sounded so rich and full as if they were in a concert house. She'd never heard a piano sound like that before. Maybe because it was so beautiful, old and well loved from it's previous owner. All that combined to give it such grace and range that notes seemed far too full and long. Much too grand and regal to not belong in a mansion somewhere.

"Oh, Little Bear doesn't have that good of taste." Sybil noted as she examined the piano in detail. "Besides, he's only a Sheriff's Deputy. They don't make that much money. Something like this costs a lot of money. Especially since you're not technically involved with him right?"

"The man who delivered it wanted to buy it from me for five thousand." Norma admitted.

Sybil turned to her in shock.

"You're not going to sell it are you?" she asked.

"No." Norma said simply.

Sybil looked relieved.

"Because we both know Alex gave it me." Norma added. "I would never sell anything he gave me."

~ Alex had been minding his own business when he was ambushed by a vicious tiger the next morning.

"I need to talk to you, right now!" Norma demanded when he found that she had intentionally stopped in the lobby of the Sheriff's station.

Thankfully, only Clarice was there and she only showed a mild interest in Romero's domestic life. Clarice was the exact opposite of Norma Bates. She wasn't energetic and Alex could rarely picture her in any other setting besides at the front office here. She would water the plants and take her lunch break, but she made it her business not to care about him and he respect her for it. So it was a rarity that Clarice's eyes grew wide at seeing Norma Bates storm in and ambush Alex Romero. Especially when she was more accustomed to the stoic, professional side of the deputy.

Alex could feel the embarrassment as soon Norma Bates approached him. He glanced back at Clarice, who was quick to look away, and took Norma Bates by the forearm, guiding her down a secluded hallway where no one would bother them.

"Come here." Alex grumbled.

Norma didn't argue this time but allowed him to lead her quickly away to the empty hallway where they could talk alone.

"What happened?" he asked.

"What do you mean what happened?" Norma huffed. She looked at him critically, and at first, he didn't know what she meant.

Norma glared at him and it was the first time he'd ever seen such a ferocious look gleaming in her eyes. It was nothing like the sadness or sense of hopelessness he'd always seen there before. She was more like a hungry predator now. He decided he liked it. Her confidence had been coming back and Alex enjoyed seeing Norma this way. He liked that she didn't feel sorry for herself and was strong enough to tackle anything. He had to admit, he found it was a little exciting.

"Norma, I don't know what you're talking about." Alex said. He honestly didn't know what was happening or why she felt the urge to ambush him at work like she'd done. She knew how people would gossip in this town if they were seen together.

He glanced down at how well her clothes accented her body. She did look especially nice today in her always fashionable, yet vintage style clothes. The colors seemed made for her and no other woman could have worn them as well as Norma Bates did. They made her skin look more radiant somehow to. Or maybe it was just the fact he hadn't been this close to her in a while now. He was better able to appreciate how beautiful she truly was.

"The piano?" She reminded him. "It was delivered to my house the other day."

"What piano?" Alex asked innocently. He pretended he didn't have a clue but already he could feel the pull of a smile on his lips. He had a terrible poker face.

Norma saw it to and her eyes sparked like fireworks. The tiger spotting her kill.

"You know what piano, Alex. I don't know where you got it but…" she shook her head and he delighted in seeing her cheeks turn red. Seeing her chest rise slightly when she breathed. "Alex, I didn't ask you to do that. Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" he asked with a casual shrug. He was trying so hard not to smile, it was the only thing he could do now.

Norma let out a long sigh and looked slightly pleased with herself.

"Why?" she asked.

Alex felt embarrassed now. It had been his mother's piano. Bought for her when she was a little girl and had been a beautiful thing in the family home. After she died, he felt sadness that it would never be played again. He didn't want to look at it if it couldn't be enjoyed by someone who would appreciate it.

"I just… I knew you played. You didn't have anything to-to play on." he said. His stutter coming back with the rush of embarrassment. "If there was something I could do about it, to change that."

He shook his head and had to laugh at the absurdity of it. He wasn't a white knight and he knew it. Why was he pretending?

"Whatever that means." he admitted.

It was overstepping to give her such an expensive gift. He'd only known her for a few months now. They weren't in a relationship. They were hardly even friends.

If things had been different, if they could ever be more than they were now, then such a gift would be easy. Right now, Alex couldn't explain it.

"It's too nice." she told him sadly. He was horrified to see the fire in her eyes dim slightly. Her eyes slipping back into the sad, ocean blue. "It's too much."

"It was just collecting dust where it was being stored at, Norma." he told her honestly. "You're doing me a favor by keeping it. I want you to have it. I want you to enjoy it. Please."

He felt he should stay perfectly still as she looked him over for signs he was tricking her. She had every right to be distrustful of men. He wouldn't blame her if she didn't trust him after the way he'd reject her that night. A thing he'd regretted as soon as the words were said.

He hadn't slept at all after she went to bed. Wondering if she'd be angry with him if he were to join her. Even if all they did was sleep innocently until morning together.

"Okay." she nodded and he was rewarded with a slight smile. "I will."

"Good." he sighed. He was slightly relieved when he saw her eyes spark back to life again.

"Thank you." she said honestly and leaned in. As her lips were gently kissing his cheek, Alex felt the pain of giving something so valuable away.

He stopped breathing for a moment and closed his eyes. He could smell her perfume. Smell her shampoo and feel the way her hair tickled his face.

She didn't kiss him long. Just a simple kiss on the cheek that could have been for anyone really. Alex felt slightly foolish when she leaned away from him. His hands cradling her wrists as if to keep her there.

They were alone in the hallway and for that moment, he wondered why they couldn't just be together. Why they couldn't let the rumor mill turn and let people say what they wanted. He knew he had survived worse gossip, but Norma wasn't cut out for it and there was the two boys to think of. He didn't want them to suffer because of his need to be with her.

He ran a thumb over her wrist and noticed something was off.

"Your cast is gone." he said and looked over her left arm in surprise.

Norma smiled proudly.  
"The doctor took it off yesterday." she said. "See how thin and pale my arm is now?"

She'd meant it as a joke but Alex was concentrating on the angry red marks and scars on her delicate flesh. Marks where he knew the bone had been rest.

"Yeah." Norma said uncomfortably. "Thats where they put the pins in. I think they'll scar but it's better than having a cast." she said and tried to pull back her arm.

Alex didn't have to use much force to keep her arm cradled in his. He ran a hand over the red marks that would be a permanent reminder of that awful night.

He raised her arm up to his lips and gently kissed the surgical scar tissue. Norma looked back at him worriedly. Her breathing picking up and her lips parting.

"I'm sorry." he whispered.

"Hello, Sheriff Wilson." Norma called out rather loudly.

Alex turned around and saw Tom had been standing behind him and they weren't alone in the hallway after all. The Sheriff looking angry, but saying nothing to either of them. Alex Romero still holing Norma Bates' arm.

 **Whew! Long chapter! School is going well. Had to go in for tutoring this past week. Kinesiology and anatomy are pretty daunting for me and the tests are pretty hard sometimes. I feel like I'm getting it finally. There is just so much to learn. We're about to start week 6 so by the end of July I'll be done.**

 **Right now, all I have to focus on is table technique for a while and I feel pretty good about that. I have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning some days and drive almost 2 hours to Austin (with traffic) to go to class 4 days a week. Hopefully, when it's all said and done, I'll have a good career ahead of me and I can make my own hours and make really good money for myself.**

 **I wish I had the time to update everyday, but I normally go to bed around 8 or 9. Except Mondays. Then I have to stay up and watch "Bates Motel". Not to mention a round trip drive of about three and a half hours with traffic. Then I have to study and or do house work which includes washing sheets to get ready for next class day.**

 **I love my classmates though. They are like my very own tribe of really amazing people and I feel like I belong with them.**

 **As you can see TSCB is becoming a little different than the previous one, and I would love to hear some feedback about where you want it to go. No Julia I got that. I'm going to do less angst and a lot more Normero love. But what else do you want to see?**


	25. Chapter 25

25.

~ "Tom, I can explain." Alex said quickly when he closed the door to the Sheriff's office.

"Alex, I know I put you in a position last week." Wilson said. The Silver Fox sat down at his desk and eyed his deputy menacingly. "I know that leaving you alone with the Bates woman overnight probably sent some mixed messages. I did it because Dylan and the Bates woman trust you. You protected them before and it was you she went to with that problem with Shelby."

Alex stayed quiet.

"I hate to ask, but I have no other choice, Alex. Did you kill Sam Bates in some kind of retaliation for beating his wife?" Tom asked without pre-amble.

"No." Alex said cooly.

"You're obvious attachment to Mrs. Bates makes me think you did." Wilson said. "If I decide to investigate, will I find proof that you've been lying to me?"

"Proof? No." Alex said calmly.

"Do you have feelings for this woman?" Tom asked.

Alex counted to five and avoided eye contact with Wilson.

"Does she have feeling for you?" Wilson asked.

"I don't know. I- I told her… that with…" Alex let the sentence die.

"There is not statute of limitation on murder, Alex." Wilson said. "Killing a man, even if you're cleared of it. It stays with you. If you become involved with Norma Bates, there will always be questions. It will always haunt you."

Alex remained silent.

"All I'm saying is, there are other women out there. Women who are less, complicated, Alex." the Sheriff told him.

~ "What'd Wilson say?" Simon Romero asked. Alex's grandfather was literally on the edge of his seat at his grandson told him about that morning's encounter with Norma and being caught by Sheriff Wilson.

"Not much." Alex shrugged. "Same speech he'd given me before about keeping away from her for her sake and mine." He whipped his mouth after finishing the hamburger he was eating. He always brought dinner for his grandfather on Tuesdays from the local burger place. It was their custom ever since Alex was little.

"Felt like I'd been caught making out in the hallway by the principal." Alex admitted.

"Well, at least Norma Bates could pass for the prom queen." Simon Romero chuckled.

Alex sat up strait and looked at his grandfather critically.  
"How do you know what Norma Bates looks like? You've never met her." Alex said.

"That's what you think." Simon smiled knowingly.

"What do you mean?"

"Who do you think brings the food around here for the senior dances and all those depressing parties we have? Hillary has always done the catering and I made it my business to introduce myself to her newest hire. A very attractive young lady named Norma Bates." Simon Romero said matter of factly.

The elderly man looked pleased with himself and Alex felt a slight rush of embarrassment.

"You didn't." he groaned.

"I most certainly did." Simon huffed. "She's a very charming woman, Alex. Nice looking, well mannered and she can cook. Tell me again why you're spending your free time fishing with Tom Wilson and hanging out with me in this shit hole. Why aren't you over at her place laying down some ground work? You know, proving to her you can be a good husband and father. Mowing the yard maybe, fixing the sink all that manly stuff that makes ladies swoon."

"I was just telling you, granddad." Alex sighed. His head hurt and he could just imagine his elderly grandfather flirting with Norma Bates. "It's complicated."

" _Oh it's complicated_." Simon mimicked childishly. "If it were me and I had a woman like that in my sights, I'd snap her up before someone else got to her. You think a lady as good looking as her is going to stay single long? One who can cook and who dresses nicely and holds down a job? Even with kids she'll have no trouble finding a man, Alex. You better stop worrying about what Tom Wilson and the rest of this stupid town thinks and snap her up."

Alex let out a long, frustrated sigh.

He wished for a moment he had been apart of his grandfather's generation. During the depression, when his grandfather was still in his mid twenties, he'd eloped with his grandmother and caused a delightful scandal in town. According to the family legend, Simon Romero had married Evie March because her father was a mean and abusive drunk who was beating the poor girl and Simon feared would do worse to her soon.

It had been such a scandal because Evie had only been sixteen when she'd run off with Simon and lied about her age in the next county. The drunk father, realizing his daughter had been unlawfully married, tried to get her back, but the Romero family had stood together as one and refused to let him set foot on their farmland.

Alex's father wasn't born until long after the Pearl Harbor attack. Leading many people in town to speculate that Simon had married Evie just so she could escape from a bad home life. That nature had simply taken its course and they had fallen in love over the next few years.

Simon was never charged with kidnapping, statutory rape or even falsifying a marriage document. Then again, at twenty-five, Simon Romero had a lot less to lose than Alex Romero did at thirty.

"Is it because she has children, Alex? Children that aren't yours?" Simon asked.

Alex looked up at his grandfather in shock.  
"No." he said honestly. "No, not at all."

"Because, that shouldn't stop you if you care for her." Simon told him. "This whole nuclear family garbage is bullshit. Families come in all shapes and sizes. The two of you could always make babies together. It's easy enough."

"I know that, granddad." Alex said calmly. The last thing he wanted just now was his elderly grandfather giving him a sex talk.

"I think you'll make a wonderful father to her little boys." Simon told him. "I kept that picture of you rescuing the youngest. When you were in the newspaper? Where you shot her husband? Terrible thing, but I'm proud you did it. I know how you think people will talk, but soon enough people will find something new to talk about. They always do. Especially in this town, Alex."

Alex was quite and let the old man talk.

"My point is, don't let her get away because you're worried about what other people will say. They'll say it anyway. Trust me. If you want to be with her, be with her. Don't give her space or whatever the hell it is you young, stupid, people like to do now. Don't have one night stands or any of that nonsense. Don't break her heart and don't string her along. Understand?" Simon barked.

Alex looked up in surprise.

"If you have a chance for happiness, Alex, you need to take it and not worry about what other people say. You'll have your degree soon. You told me you don't even want to be Sheriff. Why are you beating yourself up trying to keep a career you might not even want? You obviously want the girl. Right?" Simon asked.

"Alright, granddad." Alex tried to laugh it off. He looked at his watch and wished that the time would move more quickly.

"Alex, I just want you to be happy. I don't care about Tom Wilson or anyone one else in this town but you." Simon pleaded when his grandson stood up to go. "If this Norma Bates makes you happy, if she's the one, then I say risk it. What's the worse that can happen?"

"Sheriff Wilson or one of the city council members can call for Sam Bates' death to be investigated." Alex shrugged carelessly. "Claim that I shot and killed him because I had romantic feelings for his wife Norma Bates."

Simon looked annoyed and Alex hated himself for what he said next.

"They would be right, Granddad." he said. "Sam had hurt her, but she wasn't in immediate danger when I shot him. I did it out spite and I'd do it again. I saw that broken arm and those bruises on her face and I wanted him dead. That's all."

Alex silently gathered the trash from the take out dinner. He cleared the table and folded up the grocery list of things to buy for his grandfather next Sunday.

"I may want her, Granddad." Alex admitted before leaving. "But Norma Bates and her sons deserve a lot better than me."

~ Norma was worried that the cast had been taken off her arm too soon. It had only been two months since Sam had broken her arm and she could feel how stiff and fragile the bone was, even now.

She rested her fingers on the well worn keys of her new piano and delicately played a simple version of Chopin's Etude from memory. Something that went well with the rain outside and wouldn't strain her bad arm too much.

She winced when her fingers failed to hit the mark again and again. Finally she resorted to something more basic that required little compliance from her bad hand. She still had trouble hitting the right keys, but this would be the best physical therapy right now.

She jumped slightly when there was a knock on her door. Dylan and Norman were in their room, it would be bedtime soon and they didn't care for the music she played. They knew when she practiced on the piano, it was a signal that it was almost bed time anyway.

She looked out the bay window but couldn't see anything but darkness and rain. She didn't know anyone well enough to have visitors and she believed Alex when he told her Shelby wouldn't come back.

The latest rumor had him near Florida anyway with some new girlfriend. The young man wasted no time finding love it seemed.

Norma turned on her front porch light and opened the door to see Deputy Romero standing there looking as annoyed and troubled as ever.

"Alex!" she smiled at him. "Come in. I was just practicing. Have you eaten yet? I can heat you up something."

He leaned forward as if to come inside, but then looked away. His expression troubled.  
"What is it?" Norma asked.

She hadn't spoken to him since Sheriff Wilson caught them in the hallway that morning. The two of them looking like a couple of guilty teenagers when they'd done absolutely nothing wrong.

She stepped out onto her front porch and gently closed her door behind her. If Alex wasn't coming inside, she didn't want her boys to know he was here. Clearly something was off and she was waiting for him to explain.  
"Alex, what happened?" she asked when she'd watched him look out at the rain for long enough.

"Um… I'm sorry." he said at last.

Norma had to search her memory for what infraction Alex had committed against her and came up empty.

"For what?" she asked cautiously.

"I've… um… I've been telling you that we can't be together. That it's-it's not going to work. It's not going to work. Leaving you like I did." he sighed. "Then I'm sending you a piano. I'm kissing you."

He shook his head in frustration.

"On the arm. And I kissed you first." she reminded him.  
"We're making it harder on ourselves this way." he said at last. "I want to be with you, I do, but if we're together… it's going to cause suspicion into Sam's death. I-I can't put you through that. I can't put the boys through that."

Norma opened her mouth to argue with him but he stopped her.

"You deserve better, Norma. The best I can do for you is walk away now." he said.

"Alex." she said at last.

She nodded to the rain that had already soaked his hair and jacket. She would never understand how he was never bothered by the rain and cold here.

"Why don't you come inside before you catch a cold?"

~ Norma made some hot tea and put his wet sock in the dryer. She insisted he take off the all weather jacket he always wore and told him he was going to come down with the flu even though he couldn't remember the last time he even had a cold. She hung his jacket out to dry in the bathroom and he nodded at the placement of his mother's piano in the living room.

"Looks nice." he said at last when she handed him a hot cup of chamomile tea. It was clear Norma like to take care of people and it bothered her when she thought he was neglected.

"It sounds beautiful." she told him.  
"I'd like to hear it." he told her. "I caught a little of you playing outside." he admitted.

"I think the boys are almost asleep." she whispered nodding to their closed bedroom door. "We don't want to wake them up."

"No." Alex agreed. He nodded to the arm that still had the angry red marks on it.

"How's the arm?" he asked.

"Hurts." she said pitifully. "I think they took the cast off too soon, but I'm on government aide for healthcare so I'm sure that played a part in it. Told me to be careful with it. Still feels really tender and I'm afraid I'll roll over in my sleep or something."

"What?" Alex said feeling outraged. How any doctor could prematurely take her cast off because of her insurance was criminal.

"Yeah. I thought it was too soon, but he said it would be fine." Norma shrugged.

Alex sat the mug of tea aside and looked at her arm carefully. It was thin and pale and riddled with scars from her surgery. He ran a hand over the places where the pins were and had the urge to kiss it again. He glanced at Norma who must have been thinking the same thing. Their eyes meeting and she leaned in closer to him.  
"Alex, whether you know it or not, I would lose a lot if you just decided not to be in our lives anymore." she told him. "Even if we're just friends-"

"It doesn't feel like we can be just friends." he interrupted.

"I know." she sighed.  
"We can't just be friends." he said.

She looked sad and nodded.

"I know." she admitted.

She looked at the clock on her kitchen wall.

"It's getting late. We need to go to bed." she said.

"Not really tired." he said. He had stupidly taken her words literally.

She tried to repress a smile.

"Neither am I." she whispered.

Alex felt his cheeks grow warm as her hands found his and she was guiding him towards her bedroom.  
"Oh." he said.

All reasons and excuses as to why this couldn't happen were forgotten as he closed her bedroom door behind them for the night.

 **So confession time! I had actually forgotten about Alex's grandfather until today when reading a review request and had to rewrite this! Yeah! So glad I did because it's even better! I'll be on Instagram at 8pm today (3-4-17 central time) my handle is Angelofthemorning1978 if you want to follow me and ask any questions. Never did this before so its bound to get weird and fun. See you there!**


	26. Chapter 26

26.

~ Norma looked slightly uncomfortable as soon as Alex shut the bedroom door. Had he misunderstood something? Did she want him to leave?  
"Um… I should go change. In the bathroom." she said awkwardly and avoided eye contact. He caught the embarrassed smile flight across her face and her cheeks flushed a lovely shade of pink as she stepped around him towards the hallway.

"I'll, um, I'll go and check on the boys to. Make sure that they're asleep." she whispered quickly as she left him alone.

Alex nodded and felt slightly out of place in the bedroom without her. Norma's decorating taste was far too feminine for him. Alex was used to his own factory setting, non descriptive, monochromatic style. Colors that never deviated from black, silver, and maybe mahogany. He never bothered with art on the wall and the only photo he ever had out and in a frame was of him and his mother when he was a small child.

Norma, however, was much warmer with her color pallet. She mixed blues, pinks, yellows and greens into a very comforting and homey bedroom. She'd had the boys create paintings for her bedroom wall and proudly framed them in dollar store frames so that they looked like real high end art work.

Alex averted his eyes when he saw the run down chair that Norma used to hang clothes off of. Just now her a lacy slip was carelessly draped off the back.

Alex turned away and focused on her dresser. A safe place where Norma kept her make up and perfume, along with a myriad of family pictures.

She had nicely framed pictures on her dresser. Just herself, Dylan, and Norman he noticed. Nowhere were there pictures of her parents or any other family members. For a woman like Norma Bates, Alex thought that a was little odd. She seemed so devoted to the idea of family; to the role motherhood. He thought she would have likely had at least one picture of her parents.

Instead, it was a timeline of baby pictures and a much younger looking Norma holding Dylan in a hospital bed.

Alex looked over this picture carefully. She couldn't have been much more than a teenager when she had him. Her face so young and fragile looking. Even more than it was now. He thought she looked too thin, too frightened and unprepared for the world. She gripped her newborn son fiercely and stared back at the camera without smiling. Her large blue eyes were like a protective animal guarding it's young.

"The boys are asleep." came a whisper as Norma opened the door back to the bedroom.

Alex was still holding the picture of her and a newborn Dylan and felt his breathing pick up when he saw she'd changed into that blue robe he liked so much. It was more like an old fashioned dress than a robe. The way it moved across her body and fitted neatly round her slender waist. It's hem hitting the floor so modestly yet he knew it hid very shapely legs.

"Are you sure it's okay I'm here?" he asked.

She only smiled and nodded to the picture he was holding.

"I see you found my pictures." she said.

"Yeah." he looked back down at the teenage girl Norma had been. "Is this you with Dylan?"

He didn't mean to sound judgmental, but he knew his tone was a little critical of her age.

"Yeah, I um…" she took the framed picture away from him and looked it over sadly. "I was seventeen when I had him. I had to go to night school to get my high school diploma."

She put the picture back in it's place and readjusted it.

"He was worth it." she added quickly.  
"Of course." Alex agreed.

"I didn't have a good home life." Norma explained. "I thought, well, I wanted a way out. I found a way when I got pregnant with Dylan. Um… by… my high school boyfriend." she said carefully.

She refused to look at him and Alex sensed she wasn't telling him the truth about something. That maybe there were things in her past she couldn't tell him about it.

"It's okay." he said gently. "I get it. It's like you said, Dylan was worth it."

"He is." Norma said earnestly. "He's a miracle. He's… he's so good and that he could come from all that." she swallowed hard and her lower lip trembled slightly.

Alex nodded to another baby picture.

"Is that Norman?" he asked hoping to change the subject.

"Yes!" Norma giggled. Her mood lightening instantly when her youngest was brought up. "You know when he was born, it was like I'd been given another chance. It's like when we came here. When you arrested Sam and we were able to start over. I felt like it was a sign."

She looked longingly at Norman's baby picture and then back up at him. Her eyes sparking like not quite like fire, but more like embers. The remains of fire that was calm but still giving off heat.

"We don't have to do this. If you're not ready, Norma." he whispered. "I-I don't want you to feel like you have to do this."

"Why would I feel like we have to do this?" she asked with an amused little smile.

He nodded towards the wall.  
"Well, the piano. I don't know. You might think, that-that-" he stuttered.

"Thought you didn't give me the piano." she teased and pressed her lips together so she wouldn't grin too much.

He was relived she was joking and let out a sigh. His body relaxing at last.

"I don't want to hurt your arm either." he nodded to her left arm. "That doctor shouldn't have taken it out of the cast so soon."

"It's okay, Alex, I have a brace for it." she said with a grin. She opened her dresser drawer and pulled out a plastic arm brace. "My doctor just wanted me to try and get my strength back. He wants me to wear this while I sleep and to avoid anything that feels like it will be too much strain."

Alex took the brace from her and quickly fastened it around her arm for her. He was careful to avoid making it too tight. Aware that her bones were still healing.

"Too much strain, huh?" he asked. "So I guess we'll just be sleeping tonight."

Norma looked like she wanted to make a joke but decided not to. Her lips curling into a smile that let Alex know she wasn't mad at the suggestion of wanting to take things a little slower.

"It's just…" he sighed after securing her arm brace. "There's not rush, Norma. I mean, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to talk to Tom in the morning and I'm going to tell him that I…" he cleared his throat to chase away the anxiety he suddenly felt. "That um… I care about you and that-that if I want to, to spend time with you, see you, personally…" he shrugged. "That's our business."

Norma was silent for a moment as he said all this. To Romero, it was the most honest and romantic thing he'd ever expressed to a woman. Yet, looking back, he was sure Norma didn't agree.

"Well, as long as you clear it with Tom Wilson first." she said sarcastically.

"Norma." he said and his hands went to her hips before she could move away. She glared at him coldly. "You know it's not that simple."

"Yes, it is." she argued. "I know that you're attracted to me. I've known it since the first time we ever met, Alex. If you want to be with me then that's what I want. I don't like the idea that you have to treat me like I'm some kind of guilty pleasure. That we have to be a secret. We've done nothing wrong and we can be happy together."

"I know we can." he said calmly. He moved her hips closer to his so she couldn't get away. He liked how her eyes sparked to life again. Like fire about to blaze hot and dangerous. He found his heartbeat picked up an excited rhythm at seeing her grow angry at him. That unlike any other relationship he'd recently had, Norma Bates wouldn't want it to be casual. To be his occasional lover when she was lonely, and then pretend she didn't know him as soon as the morning came. He was thankful she wanted more from him. Demanded more from him.

"I-I know we can." His lips moved in closer to hers but he wound't kiss her yet. He lingered there for a moment waiting for her to give into him. For her to lean into him and surrender to him. Her body seemingly refusing to yield though. Her hips still cradled in his hands as her fingers pulled roughly on his shirt.

He closed his eyes and felt her breath, and still she wouldn't kiss him.

"Baby." he whispered.

As if by magic, she melted into him and her lips, soft and beautiful, met his and she belonged to him. He wasn't as gentle as he should have been when he pushed her pelvis harder against his. Her hands pulling his shirt so that his chest would be drawn closer to hers. He could feel her slight body against the soft fabric of her robe and when she suddenly and cruelly pulled away from him, it was only to loosen the belt of the powder blue robe and let it slip off her shoulders.

Alex watched, his breathing coming hard, as she let her robe fall down and pool around her ankles. She was wearing that delicious night slip that perfectly matched her skin and had the oh so famine lace at the hem. A thing that he'd seen through her window and made his entire body hurt with longing for her.

"Oh." he sighed helplessly. "You… you look…" he swallowed hard and could think of no other words. "You look beautiful."

"You sure you just want to go to sleep, deputy?" she asked teasingly. She stepped away from him when he reached for her. He body felt alive with need for this woman. Blood coursing though him with an almost anger like lust.

"Come here." he whispered when she maneuvered away from him again. A smile blooming across her face at the new game of cat and mouse.

"Am I going to be you little secret, deputy?" she asked in a teasing voice.

"No." he promised. "No. Never."

She looked him over appraisingly and Alex understood how woman like Helen of Troy launched a thousand ships and caused great wars. Just now, he was willing to give anything to satisfy the beasts within him. Norma stopped trying to escape him and allowed his arms to insnare her waist. Allowed him to capture her at last.

Alex pulled her close and she gasped in alarm at the feel of his hardness already pressing against her leg.

"No strenuous activity." she whispered. Her eyes flashing wide with a lovely pretend fright that only excited him more. His didn't wait for her to kiss him this time. His skin burned hot and when he touched her, when he started to slip off that nude colored night dress, he knew he could never let her go.

~ Norma hadn't expected all of this to happen. At least, not tonight. Not like this.  
She'd envisioned making love to Alex Romero dozens, if not hundreds of times but she had to marvel at her own audacity. She was never bold enough to make the first move sexually and never really had to. Always preferring to play a coy defensive strategy instead.

Alex was different. She wanted him and was tired of pretending that she didn't want him. She was bored of this game they were playing of not noticing the way he looked at her. The way his breathing changed and his eyes grew soft when she knew he wanted her.

When he hands lifted the straps of her night dress and started to pull them down she watched his response to seeing her naked body for the first time. She waited eagerly for his appreciation of the beauty of the female form.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked. His words coming out slightly husky and his voice trembling with desire.

"Stop being so polite." she ordered harshly.

Alex looked insulted and wasted no more time in pulling down her slip, finally exposing her to him.

He looked her over like she was a work of art. His hands caressing her hips, buttocks, moving up her back, her waist and lightly touching her breast and nipples.

"You're so beautiful." he admitted painfully.

Norma seized the flannel of his shirt and started pulling it off of him. Alex looked slightly alarmed she wanted him to be naked with her. That somehow his own nakedness couldn't compare in beauty to hers. He allowed her to strip him though. His capable hand assisting her with his complicated belt. She'd been surprised to find he'd worn a holster with a concealed handgun tucked in back. Surprised she hadn't noticed it before.

"It's alright." he whispered and slipped off the weapon before she had a chance to become worried. He safely stashed it high on top of her dresser where even she couldn't reach it without standing on tip toe.

"You always carry a gun?" Norma asked when Alex stripped off the black T shirt he wore and she went to work unzipping his pants.

Their lips met politely and she enjoyed the contact of his bare chest on her naked breasts. It was always a sinful delight to feel foreign flesh on a body part that was normally covered with clothing.

"Always." he answered. His hands were gently cupping her naked bottom as she slipped off his pants and felt his erection pressing dangerously on her hip.

She was a little surprised he was already so aroused. Thankful she wouldn't have to do much, and flattered he couldn't keep his hands off her.

"Baby." he groaned painfully. His hands pressing her hips hard against his.

His lips were caressing her neck and Norma found it difficult to concentrate on what was happening now.

Alex had a beautiful body. His chest was well toned and firm. He obviously worked out religiously and his arms and hands felt perfect and strong when he touched her. His hands always gripping greedily on her bottom, reminding her that wanted her. Reminding her that she wasn't just a mother of two. That she could do much more than cook and clean and laundry. He easily let her know that she was a beautiful woman, and she was desired. That she was needed and that he could hardly contain himself much longer.

"Baby." he groaned again and his hands pushed her hips away from him.

Norma looked up at her would be lover in alarm.

Alex looked at her savagely. She'd never seen that expression on his face before and knew it wasn't one of love.  
"Get on the bed." he choked.

 **Needless to say, there WILL be EROTICA in the next chapter. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!**

 **I'd LOVE to write more for you but I have to study. I have three quizzes this week and Monday, Tomorrow, I have to be ready to perform a full 60 min Swedish full body massage and I need to look over my notes. I'm not ready for it at all!**

 **Everyone in class is freaking out! AHHH! So that's something!**

 **I thought Massages are supposed to be relaxing! Problem is, I don't really have anyone to work on and practice on. Everyone I know works including my husband and I have to go to bed at around 8 or 9 at night to get up as early as I do. I'm even gonna miss "FUED: Bette and Joan" and I'll have to record it. Love Bette Davis! She's my girl! **

**So, Hopefully I'll get it all done. I'm a Rock Star. Or so I've been told by my classmates. All that I've done in the past year is kick ass and take names. I can do anything!**

 **I had an awesome time during my live Instagram chat last night. Very fun. I'll try to do it again next week to. Make it a weekly thing. IDK. No promises.**


	27. Chapter 27

27.

~ Norma nodded but didn't register that she'd been given an order until Alex maneuvered her gently to her bed. His breathing was coming harder now as his hand caressed her breast and his fingers danced lightly over her belly.

He kissed her sweetly on the lips. Those eyelashes of his ticketing her cheeks and she grinned and blushed.

"Get on the bed." he whispered to her.

Norma suddenly felt shy at being totally naked in front of him when he was still politely clothed in just his underwear. Alex had a thing for black and was modest down to his undergarments. He wore a hybrid style of boxer briefs and Norma reached out to slip them off him.

"Get- get on the bed." he said again with that stutter she always found amusing. Always knew that whatever fortifications were in place, were crumbling because of her.

She willingly backed away from him and let him take in the view of her body, young and beautiful in the moonlight without clothing on. She wasn't sure how to be seductive for him, and sensed she didn't have to be. The look on his face said she had seduced him enough already. She reclined on her bedspread and watched as Alex, instead of joining her, turned away and went to the bedroom door.

"Alex?" she said in alarm.

He had taken one of the dinning room chairs she used for her dressing table and wedged the back under the door knob so it couldn't be opened from the other side.

"We don't want one of the boys coming in to see me doing bad things to their mother, do we?" Alex said coming back to her quickly. He stopped by his discarded pants and pulled out his wallet, quickly setting it on her nightstand before his body sank into the mattress and began melting into her skin beautifully.

"Are you going to do bad things to me?" Norma whimpered excitedly when Alex started to kiss down her neck.

Her head was swimming just now and she feared she might drown. Her skin was on fire and her body was electric with want in a way she'd never felt before. She was thankful Alex had the foresight to think of the boys coming into their room, because she hadn't. Norman had the habit of climbing into his mother's bed at night during heavy rainstorms.

She rolled onto her back and felt his hand begin to tickle between her legs. Running smooth strokes along her desire till her hips started keeping rhythm with him.

' _Oh, thank God he's into foreplay_.' she thought as she leaned her head into his shoulder. She went to touch him but her arm brace got in the way, catching on the lining of his underwear and making her feel frustrated.

"Sorry, let me-" Norma stammered and tried to take the brace off so she could be a better lover to him and reciprocate.

"No, I don't want you to hurt yourself." Alex ordered. His hand leaving that delicious spot between her legs and gently placing her injured hand to one side.

"It's okay. Leave the brace on." he said.  
"Are you sure?" Norma asked. She wanted him to be happy with her. To feel satisfied and that she'd given to him just as much as he was willing to give to her.

He smiled a mischievous smile and kissed her lips with that sweet, prince charming kiss, before his fingers went back to working her again. This time, they made small circles around her clitoris with a slow speed and pressure that Norma felt the need to slam her legs shut.

"It's okay." He whispered when she felt her body tense at the fear that this felt too good. His fingers, evil things, were moving fast and hard now. Making deliberate circles over that part of her anatomy that he must have known would drive any woman insane with want.

"Alex!" she gasped before trying to push him away.

He was too strong for that and she didn't really want him to stop. Her body felt too over stimulated by those horrible yet amazing circles he was drawing around her clitoris.

Alex didn't waste time talking about her concerns or feelings. He viciously maneuvered his hips between her legs and pinned her good arm down with his body. Their faces nearly touching as he kept the malicious pace of stroking and rubbing her till she thought she was going to die.

"Please!" she panted. Her hips bucking angrily at his and she thought this must be what it was like to be one of those sex crazed women she'd once read about. She'd never dreamed about wanting sexual gratification that badly, and here she was, her legs spread wide and she was about to start begging Alex to mount her and fuck her like a dirty whore. She even wanted to start swearing just to show him she meant it.

"Please what?" he asked. His lips burning on her neck.  
"Please, Alex!" she whimpered and couldn't force herself to say it.

"You want this?" he asked. His own breathing coming hard and with an easy movement of his hips she felt his hardness pressing savagely against her belly.

"Yes!" she cried. "Please!"

"Say it." he ordered.  
"Alex, please!" she gasped. He'd stopped his torture and rolled her on her back again, her body, beautiful and alive with her sudden awakening was still caught up in the movement of his hands. The foreplay he'd given her had excited her so much that her legs were shamelessly spread for him as though she had no control over herself.

She didn't want to control herself just now either. She wanted to be treated this way by Alex. She wanted to be carnal and sexual with him in every sense of the word. She didn't want to be treated like a lady right now, she wanted him to treat her like a whore.

Her legs spread even wider at the idea of him pounding into her and she couldn't explain why she liked the idea so much.

She missed the abuse he'd lavished on her and her fingers went down between her legs trying to replicate the same maneuvers he performed. Her hips bucking as soon as her touch triggered her already sensitive and excited clitoris. She felt a delightful embarrassment to find she was already soaking wet and there was no tightness her finger could find.

"Alex?" she whispered when she sensed her lover was distracted.

She looked over to see he'd been busy without her. His wallet was open and he'd removed an innocent looking condom from some secret compartment. She felt her breathing pick up and her own self abuse intensify at watching him finally slip his last piece of clothing off. Exposing a healthy erection she wanted more than anything. He looked back at her shameful self pleasure and she felt her cheeks burn slightly. With expert efficiency, he rolled the neutral colored condom on then looked back at her greedily.

Norma grinned happily and allowed him to push her legs up as his body gently eased on top of hers.

"God, you're so beautiful." he panted and Norma picked up that alluring masculine smell on his body that was distinctly sexual and that heightened her arousal to him.

"Don't make me beg!" she gasped as her hips rocked upward to meet his. She need him so badly, why was he taking his time? Why was he tormenting her?

"I should make you beg." he growled angrily. "I have to see you go to work everyday from the station. I have to see you looking so beautiful, knowing I couldn't have you. Knowing that I could do better for you. That I could be a better man for you, a better father for your boys."

Norma felt her arousal grow to orgasmic levels at his words. She wasn't sure if she'd ever climaxed before but she was close now.

"I have you now." Alex panted with sadistic pleasure. "You're mine now."

"Make me yours." she gasped and she felt she was about to explode before he'd even penetrated her.

He wasn't kind or polite when he took her.

He **was** respectful with regard to the arm that was still healing. He never made a move that would further harm those bones safely secured in the brace. He was also mindful of her sleeping children when he covered her mouth so her screams wouldn't wake them.

Norma had never experienced her body spasming so out of control as soon as he entered her. Never had the urge to physically harm her lover at the same time he pleasured her.

Her body wasn't her own anymore and the sensation was amazing and terrifying as Alex moved inside her with thrust after thrust until she thought she would lose her mind. Her already oversexed body screaming in protest as she felt that frightening orgasam come for her again.

Alex gently held his hand over her mouth and let her scream and moan as he slowed and sped up again. His movements like he was riding her, and he graciously allowed her climax to take her. She didn't realize till morning that she'd scratched his arms and back up with both her good and bad hand. Alex had refused to pin her down to defend himself over the fear that he'd hurt her.

~ "Norma?" came a gentle whisper and soft lips on her back.

Norma must have been sleeping very deeply because she snapped awake and her body felt well rested and ready to run a marathon.

She looked around her bedroom in shock and was surprised to find it was still dark.

"It's okay." Alex whispered and guided her back down into the covers with him.

"Oh!" she gasped and felt relieved it hadn't been a dream. She didn't mind that he covered them both up with the blankets but would have liked it better if they had laid together naked like heathens.

"What time is it?" she asked. She rolled over to nuzzled his chest and felt perfectly safe and secure when his arms wrapped around her.

"It's almost six." he whispered. "I was thinking we should get dressed soon."

"Oh, no." Norma groaned. The last thing in the world she wanted to do was get dressed.

"I agree." he teased and she felt his lips kiss her pleasantly on the cheek. "The boys will be up soon. I was thinking…" she heard him take a deep sigh. "If it's alright with you, I might take Dylan out to McDonalds or something. Just the two of us. Explain to him that I care about you and about him. That I'm going to be spending more time here. Make sure that he's okay with that."

"Oh, Dylan is going to be more than okay with that." Norma groaned bitterly. "He's going to start picking out wedding china if you let him."

"Well, thats a conversation for another day." Alex said dryly.

Norma let out a yawn and rolled over. Her lover looked a great deal more relaxed and happy than she'd ever known him to be. He looked younger somehow.

"Last night was nice." she admitted shyly.

"Just nice?" he prompted. His brows going up in surprise. "I seem to remember you being more than satisfied, Mrs. Bates."

Norma felt her cheeks go warm and she looked away from him.

"I should get dressed." Alex said happily and kissed her cheek before abandoning her in bed. "Can't have the boys see me sneaking out of your room looking guilty. Least not till I have a chance to talk to Dylan."

She noticed the dark red marks on his shoulder and back and knew she'd put them there last night.

Norma felt a strange fear wash over her as she watched him re-dress. Saw his clothes go back out with renewed energy and vigor she hadn't seen on him before. She could easily picture him here with her everyday like this. Watching him getting dressed for work. Putting on his uniform and letting her sleep in a little after "servicing" her the night before. He'd most likely be the kind of man who'd run a tight ship when it came to getting Dylan and Norman up and dressed for school. Driving them himself so that they'd arrive safely and she wouldn't worry.

He'd be the kind of man, partner, husband, who would demand very little of her. A hot meal and a clean house were luxuries in his eyes and he seemed grateful for them. He always would have a steady job and didn't seem the type to drink or chase after women. He took himself far too seriously for that.

It would be easy to fit Alex into their lives. Knew that her sons would love him as easily as they loved that dog of his. That Dylan craved him as a father figure already and Norman was too young to really know or miss Sam.

She felt that nameless fear like a black bird start pecking at her mind and her breathing coming short.

"I'll…uh, I'll have to talk to Wilson." Alex said. "I know you don't like that."

"What?" Norma said. Her thoughts were years away from the present.

"I'll have to tell Wilson that you and I are together. It's better that he hears it from me first. It'll go easier for me if I talk to him first than if gossip gets around." he explained.

"Oh." Norma said.

"It's just how things are." Alex told her shrugging on his jacket. "I don't regret last night, and we're both adults here."

"Right." Norma nodded. She clutched her bedspread closer to her chest and felt that black bird laugh at her.

"Norma?" he asked.  
"Alex, I changed my mind." she said suddenly.


	28. Chapter 28

28.

~ Alex looked at Norma curiously. She must be joking.

"What?" he asked. He felt the smile blooming across his face. A sensation he was still getting used to. His body felt happy and satiated for the first time in a very long time, and he didn't feel as if anything could bring him down from these dizzying heights.

"What are you talking about?" he asked again as he took his side arm off the top of her dresser and quickly re-holstered it. He knew Norma didn't like guns in her home, but old habits died hard and he felt naked without it.

She was looking serenely modest with the bedspread covering her body, as if he hadn't seen her well sculpted form already.

"Norma?" he asked again when she didn't respond.

She looked up and her face seemed withdrawn.

"Alex, I don't think you should talk to Wilson. Or Dylan, or… anyone." she confessed. She looked away again. "About us." she said meekly.

"Why?" he asked. His mind reeling against the very nature of her words. "I thought you said-"

"I know what I said last night. That was last night." Norma interrupted. "I don't want you to throw everything you've worked so hard on for… for something that might not even last."

"Something that might not last." he repeated.

He could hear ocean waves, loud and thunderous in his ears now.

Norma Bates was no different than Rebecca Hamilton. She'd fooled him into thinking he'd be welcome into her world, into this lovely home of hers. A world where things were cozy and clean and he had a place to sit at the table. In reality, she didn't want to acknowledge him in public. Rebecca hardly glanced his way if they were in public together. She didn't want people to know she wasted time with the forever stoic and cold hearted Alex Romero.

A man so incapable of love that he turned his own father in to the DEA after his mother checked herself out of life. A man who's only companion and partner who could stand to be around him for more than a few months was a dog.

Alex found himself breathing hard at the idea he wasn't welcome here after all. That Norma had just wanted him physically, or maybe she felt indebted to him for the piano, which was worse. Much worse.

"You said so yourself, Alex." Norma went on. Her voice trembling. "You said that you could get into a lot of trouble for being with me. Wilson had told you not to. Everything you've worked for. This might not even last. What if it doesn't work out? You'd have thrown away your career for nothing. I won't have you do that. Not to mention you could get investigated for Sam's death. I mean, I'm sure they couldn't prove anything. I just-"

"Stop." Alex said. He closed his eyes when he started to feel dizzy.

He looked over at her and saw her face looked just as crushed and saddened as his.

"Alex, I'm just not worth it." she whispered.

"So that's how it is?" he asked. He felt defensive at being rejected and knew his time in her word was coming to a close.

"Last night was a mistake. I was weak, we both were." she confessed. Her eyes refused to meet his and he couldn't tell when color they were now.

"A mistake?" he repeated. Last night was many things to him but he felt it wasn't a mistake.

"It can't happen again. We can't see each other again. If it was found out…" she breathed.  
"Yeah, if it was found out the worst that could happen is some stupid investigation and maybe I'd lose my job. That's a big maybe, Norma." he said.

He saw she looked ready to cry and he couldn't bare the sight of her in pain.

"Listen." he said stepping closer to her and sitting on the edge of her bed. Norma quickly looked away as if embarrassed by him sitting so close to her.

"Norma, if the county **did** investigate me, and that's a big maybe, the worst that could happen is they would ask me to resign. My only worry would be people talking about you and the boys." he said.

His hands went to hers and her felt how lovely and soft her skin was.

"I'd hate for you to be the subject of gossip." he admitted.

"Again." she said dryly.

He had to nod at that. Norma Bates had nothing but bad luck when it came to public opinion here in town.

"They won't be able to prove anything against me. It's been months since Sam died and we can honestly say we didn't have a relationship before. If it's too much, Norma, I'm willing to just leave and start over. Maybe that's something we should think about." he offered.

She finally looked up at him in amazement. Her eyes a bewitching shade of blue that could drown him.

"Alex, we don't know if what we have is even real." she whispered.

"Okay." he said. "Let's be practical."

"Practical?" she grinned and glanced down under the sheet to show she still had nothing on.

"We should see each other, but remain discreet. We can pretend were having an illicit affair or something." he teased.

Norma didn't want to smile but she did.

"I'll still have to tell Wilson, I owe him that much. He'd be on my side if things went sideways." Alex confessed.

"You're supposed to be Sheriff soon." Norma said sadly.  
"Who says I even want to be Sheriff?" Alex told her honestly.

Norma looked confused.

"Lets just… lets not give up on this." he pleaded. He leaned over and kissed her sweetly.

"You should go before the boys wake up." she whispered.  
"Can I come over tonight?" he asked hopefully.

"I'm…" Norma sighed and seemed reluctant to promise anything. "Just to talk." she said at last.

"Talking's good." he said.

"No fooling around." she said quickly.

"We'll see." he grinned. His mood returning to that wonderful happy place he so long had been denied entrance into.

"Okay, you need to go. The boys will be up soon and I need to get ready for work." Norma scolded suddenly very modest about her body. She kept the blankets wrapped tightly around her chest as she skirted out of bed and found her blue robe on the floor. Quickly slipping it on with her back to him.

"You know I've seen everything, right?" he teased.

"Go!" she hissed and shoved him out her bedroom door.

Alex surpassed the urge to laugh as she pushed him out the hallway and towards her front door, shushing him to be quite and to not let the neighbors see him leave.

"What neighbors?" he asked as he struggled to put his shoes on. He felt like he really was the illicit lover being given the bum's rush and that the jealous husband might be home any second.

"You didn't come here in the police SUV did you?" she asked worriedly.

"No, I brought the farm truck." he nodded to the dark blue pick up truck that he only used for hauling things on the family farm.

He'd parked it a few yards away and deep into the turn at the end of the lane so no one would see it right away.  
"Good." Norma nodded. She didn't bother to ask him why he had a farm truck or kiss him goodbye.

"Come by tonight for dinner." she said quickly when she heard a noise down the hall. Her sons were awake now and would barge out their bedroom at any second. Unless they wanted to answer a lot of awkward questions, he had to leave now. "About six." she added before slamming the door shut.

~ "You know who that old man was at the nursing home was right?" Hillary asked. "The one who keeps talking to you?"

"No. Who was he?" Norma asked as she went to work decorating a wedding cake for that evening. Already she had helped make and deliver a truckload of lunches to a funeral, a gender revel party and to the senior luncheon at the White Pine Bay Nursing home.

There were too many people here in town that she'd been meeting and Norma didn't have time to keep track of them all anymore. She just put on a nice smile and tried to get through it. They all seemed nice to her and sympathetic to what she'd been through with Sam.

Every week since she'd started work Norma helped Hillary deliver special foods at the nursing home and every week a nice older gentleman made it his mission to talk to Norma and become a little flirty. He'd even dressed up and gone so far as to ask her about her sons and if she was seeing anyone.

"Simon Romero." Hillary said with a knowing grin. "He's the grandfather of Deputy Romero."

"Oh." Norma said in surprise. The older gentleman hadn't said anything about Alex and vic versa. Norma had to wonder why not. Maybe like his father, Alex wasn't on good terms with his grandfather.

"You know, Simon is the only family Deputy Romero has left anymore." Hillary said with her knowing look. Norma tried to concentrate on her work and not give any clue that she cared about the conversation.

"He was a big war hero. Simon was. Was in the Marines and went to Europe and was even captured by the Nazis. Made it home though to his wife and son. Alex's father, you know. Made everyone forget what a scandal it was when he married that girl." Hillary said.

"I can't believe Simon Romero had the gaul to talk to you after his grandson shot and killed your husband in your own home." One sour faced looking cook said. She was chopping vegetables and never had anything nice to say about anyone. She'd taken it as a personal insult that Norma had allowed herself to be a battered wife and had somehow escaped.

"Nancy." Hillary said calmly.

"They were getting a divorce and he was going to kill her, Nancy." another cook chimed in defensively.

"It must have been so scary." Hilary added. "Thank God Deputy Romero came when he did."

Norma felt her cheeks go red and she stayed focused on her work.

"I heard your little boy flagged him down. You must be so proud." the cook who came to her defense added.

"I am proud of Dylan. For a lot of reasons." Norma admitted.

"I wish I had seen Deputy Romero carrying your baby." Hillary said with a grin. "One of the lady paramedics told me he looked very sexy. Even more so than the newspaper picture showed. Everyone had thought that little baby had wandered into the woods during the storm. They thought he was dead, but Alex wouldn't stop looking. He just insisted he was alive. Then to see Alex Romero carrying that child in his arms like that? It was all any of the girls were talking about the next day."

Norma stood a little straiter. She'd kept the newspaper article of course. Alex carrying her son in a way that his own father never did. She felt her heart beat stronger when she saw how carefully and securely he held her little boy and could understand why all the girls were fawning over it.

The reality wasn't nearly so romantic. She hadn't told anyone, not even Sybil or Alex, that she had given Norman cough syrup to keep him sleeping during the ordeal. She was worried that information would make people think she was a bad mother. Everyone in town wanted to hail Alex as a hero for shooting and killing her abusive husband, conveniently forgetting that she had another child that had been likewise traumatized. Forgetting that Alex should have just as easily arrested Sam as killed him.

That wasn't the story people wanted. They wanted a story where Norma was being hurt by a bad man and Alex Romero come to her rescue. They wanted a helpless child to be saved from the jaws of certain death and they all wanted to have been there to see it unfold with a nice color picture on the front page of the newspaper.

Norma tried not to laugh at the absurdity of it. Alex wasn't a super hero after all. He was just in the right place at the right time.

"I still can't believe Deputy Romero is still single." the cook said. "He's so good looking."

"Well, he's not the nicest person to talk to." Nancy grumbled. "He pulled me over last winter for speeding, and I got a ticket AND lecture because my break light was out. The damn thing had been broken for months and no one pulled me over for it. Why he decided to make a big deal about it then is beyond me."

"Yeah he is a bit of a grump." the other cook agreed. "I miss Zac Shelby. He was so sweet and good with the kids."

Norma froze and strained her ears.

"I wonder why he just left like that?" Nancy mused. "Seems suspicious."

"I heard it was something to do with Keith Summers." Hillary offered. "That he owed him money."

"The girl at the Walgreens said Zac Shelby was messing around with a high school girl, and that Sheriff Wilson made him resign or he would arrest him." the other cook said.

Norma didn't offer her theory on why Zac left. All the women agreed Zac was better looking than Alex, but they all wished they had seen Deputy Romero rescuing Norman.

"You know, there is nothing sexier than a man who's a good father, Norma." Hillary said.

"Why are you telling me this?" Norma laughed.

"Because, you are a single woman." Hillary teased. "You're free to find a new man."

"I don't want a new man." Norma told her honestly. "I like being on my own. I like being able to take care of myself and my boys."

"All you modern feminists say that." Hilary told her. "But there will come a time when you're going to be lonely for warm body to wrap your legs around."

"Hilary!" Norma laughed and felt her face flush.

"And it needs to be a man who's good to your children." Hilary went on. "Besides, you're still young, Norma. Who's to say your done having babies?"

"No, don't jinx me." Norma said quickly. The thought of being pregnant again, of another baby now that Norman was fully potty trained wasn't something she even wanted to think about. She was suddenly very thankful Alex had taken the time to ensure protection last night. She hadn't bothered with any birth control since she wasn't dating anyone seriously and realized it was very foolish and irresponsible of her to trust someone else with something so important.

She'd have to make a doctor's appointment as soon as possible.

"Oh, I bet Deputy Romero would make pretty babies." the cook sighed.

"Yeah, pretty angry babies." Nancy agreed bitterly. "She can do better than him. Weren't you seeing Deputy Shelby for a while there, Norma?"

"You know Alex's mother was very pretty." Hilary offered ignoring Nancy. "She won all those beauty pageants when she was younger. Before she married his father and then killed herself."

Norma almost ruined the wedding cake when she dropped the icing bag. This latest piece of gossip had thrown her off her game.

"Wait, what happened?" Norma asked. She tried to sound casual, but she wanted them to tell her everything.

The ladies didn't disappoint.

"It was tragic." The first cook said.

"Sad." Nancy added.

"Theresa Reyes married Alex's father when she was just nineteen years old." Hillary explained. "Sherif Romero was just a deputy then and wasn't corrupt yet. I was still in high school and I remember. He was so handsome, he looked just like Elvis."

Norma remembered Shelby telling her all about the DEA arresting Alex's father.

"Back then things were a lot different here. Anyway, Theresa married him because she just fell head over heels in love with him. They got pregnant right away and she miscarried. Then she miscarried three more times before she finally had Alex. It was a shock to everyone that she had him at all. Didn't even tell anyone she was pregnant and we all thought she'd given up trying. Then, a miracle happened and she has this baby boy in secret who's perfectly healthy where the others never made it to term. Rumor was that she couldn't have anymore babies after Alex, and that's where the real trouble started. Once Sheriff Romero was elected, it was all downhill from there. He made deals with bad people, took bribes and helped cover up murders. On top of that, he was fooling around on poor Theresa who was always a saint out of heaven. Alex had to grow up watching his father turn into this mean, abusive monster. When he was in high school he would always stay with friends and he left for the military as soon as graduation was done. Then, he came home after his service was finished and joined the Sheriff's department. With his father as the Sheriff! All this time he takes his mother to Sunday mass and out to lunch every week. That's the kind of son he was; but he refused to have anything to do with the Old Bear even though he worked for him. One Sunday, Alex goes to collect his mom and finds her dead in her bed. She had taken pills or something. Then, not long after, the DEA rolls into town and arrests half of the police department along with some very big names who had a lot of money and influence around here." Hilary explained.

"Lot of people think Alex Romero turned his own father in." Nancy added sourly. "I was surprised he was exempt from all the arrests."

"Anyway, Wilson was brought in to keep things from blowing up. He's been re-elected and he does a good job." Hillary said. "He and Alex got to be friends on account of they were such outcasts I think. Wilson's dog was killed and everything."

"Surprised Wilson didn't quit." Nancy grumbled.

"So Simon Romero is really the only family Alex has left anymore." Hillary finished sadly. "Shame to. The Romero's were right up there with the Lawson's as part of the founding members of this community. They either left town, died off or went to prison in disgrace."

"Old Bear had it coming." Nancy said. "Never liked him."

Norma finished decorating the wedding cake. Her thoughts on how sad Alex's life had been. A life she didn't know about because he had never told her.

 **I know the teaser didn't match the chapter. Sorry. My bad. This chapter wanted to be something else.**


	29. Chapter 29

29.

~ Wilson stared critically at Alex for a full five minutes. Romero felt as if he'd indeed been sent to the principal's office for the terrible infraction of falling for the homecoming queen.

"You have any idea what a pain in the ass you are, son?" Wilson asked lazily.

"Sometimes." Alex agreed.  
"So, after I specifically told you to stay away from that Bates woman, to not make people in this town talk about the two of you, she comes to you with her little Shelby problem." Wilson said cooly. The Silver Fox shrugged. "Alright, I understand that. She trusted you and her kid trusted you. It was a sensitive subject, I get it. Once that was squared away, that should have been the end of it. Why wasn't it the end of it, Alex?"

"It wasn't." Alex explained.

"How long?" Wilson asked.  
"Sir?"

"You heard me. How long has it been going on?"

"Since last night." Romero admitted.  
"Good." Wilson said curtly. "Then it won't be so bad to break it off."

"I'm not going to break it off with Norma." Alex told the Silver Fox defiantly.  
"You're honestly going to risk it all for this Bates woman? You do realize you can have any single girl here in town right? After that picture came out with you saving that child you're all the ladies talk about." Wilson accused.

"You'd think so, Tom, but not a lot of women can tolerate me. Well, decent women anyway." Alex amended quickly. Wilson was amused by that and nodded.

"Well, you know what has to happen now, Deputy." he said soberly.  
"Yes, Sheriff." Alex said.  
"You'll have to bring Norma by the house so Tess can get a look at her. Give us all a proper introduction if you're serious enough about this woman to risk your future for her." Wilson told him casually.

Alex felt the tension in his chest ease and he nodded.

"Yes, sir." he said somberly.

"Maybe you should take the boat out this Sunday. Spend it on the bay with her and the oldest boy. Good chance for all of you to bond." Wilson suggested.

"I was hoping you'd suggest that." Alex said stoically and without emotion. "Norma isn't too keen on getting up early. She doesn't think fishing is a sport."

"She'll change her mind once she's out on the water." Wilson said.  
"Why did you change your mind, Sheriff?" Alex asked.

Wilson looked pleased with himself.

"I saw how you looked at Norma Bates. Saw it a mile away, son. Forbidden fruit is always the sweetest. I knew if I forbid you from having anything to do with her, it would make you want her all the more." Tom admitted.

Alex felt slightly foolish that he had fallen into Wilson's well played trap.

"I see." Romero admitted.

"Yeah, I also know you've been lusting after Norma Bates for some time now. That you wouldn't make a move unless pushed." Wilson said sadly. "Don't worry about any investigations into Sam Bates' death, Alex. Norma gave a statement at the hospital and Dylan's version of events back everything up. Not to mention Sam Bates was a real loathsome son of a bitch who deserved what he got. Arresting him would have taken up taxpayer money and cost Norma more heartache in the end. Lets not fool ourselves why you did it though. You shot and killed that man out of sheer anger and spite that he hurt someone you cared for."

Alex knew better than to say anything.

"Right." Wilson said somberly. He opened his desk drawer and took out the keys to his large fishing boat that was moored in the local marina.  
"She's yours for the weekend, providing you bring Norma and the boys over for dinner the day before. The little one, Norman, he can stay over with Tess and me while you three have a day out. I think he's too young to be out on the water anyway." Wilson said giving the keys to his first deputy.

"Thank you, Sheriff." Alex told him.  
"Alex." Wilson said when Romero stood up to leave.  
"Yes?"

"I mean it this time. You and Norma keep a very low profile with this. I don't want to hear even a whisper about the two of you together." Wilson demanded.

"Yes, Sheriff." Alex nodded and left Wilson's office.

~ "Dinner at Sheriff Wilson's house?" Norma asked in a panicked whisper.

"You'll like them." Alex whispered back as he helped her fix dinner again. "Tess is a hippie flower child who's still waiting for the revolution and Tom is… Tom. They're very good together."

"Tome Wilson married a hippie flower child?" Norma asked. She couldn't picture the tall, always serious law man married to a free sprit.

"They make a good couple. Sometimes opposites attract." Alex shrugged and washed the vegetables she handed him.

They had been keeping their voices down because Dylan and Norman were in the living room playing with that dog he brought over. The large animal seemed harmless enough, but Norma would always be suspicious of it. Alex had told her about his confession to Tom that morning and she wasn't sure how tell him about the gossip she had heard about his mother. She sensed it was a sensitive subject and didn't want to force it on him. After all, he hadn't asked her questions about her past. He'd been respectful for her desire to leave the past in the past where it belonged.

"And now you want us to go fishing?" Norma whispered while Alex ran the water so Dylan wouldn't hear. The last thing she needed was her son to get excited about a fishing trip.

"Yeah." Alex said with a mischievous smile. "It's a good way for the three of us to spend time together."

"Three of us?" Norma asked in alarm.

"Norman is going to stay with Tom and Tess. They'd love to have him. Besides, the boat is no place for a child his age, it's dangerous and he'd be bored and cranky." Alex told her.  
"I think I'd be bored and cranky to." she said in a sour tone that reminded her of Nancy.

"You'll love it." Alex said and rested a flat palm on the small of her back. "Tom called you Norma and not 'That Bates Woman'. That's something."

"He was calling me **what**?" Norma gasped.

"Look, the important thing is, that it's not a big deal anymore. Aren't you relieved?" Alex asked.  
"I don't know." Norma said sulkily. "To be honest, it was more exciting when it was forbidden."

"We still have to keep a low profile." he told her.  
"It's not the same." Norma pouted.

"We can still pretend that we're defying Tom." Alex suggested helpfully.

"Maybe." Norma shrugged. "Won't be easy if we're having a nice dinner with him and his wife. What do I need to bring?"

"I didn't ask."

"Why didn't you ask?"

"I don't know. I'm sure we just have to show up, Norma."

"Alex, we can't just show up to a dinner party with four people without bringing something."

"I'm sure its' fine."  
"No, we need to bring a covered dish or something." Norma insisted.  
"Where is it written we have to bring a covered dish?"

"Basic rules of society, Alex. I know you've been living in a bachelor cave for a few years but in a society, you bring a covered dish to a dinner." Norma corrected him like a frustrated school teacher.

"So, should I have brought a covered dish for tonight?" he asked.

Norma sensed he was teasing her again. Another playground scenario flashing in her mind of her and Alex as children. What a tormenting little brat he must have been.

"No." she sighed. "Because this is just dinner. Not a dinner party."

"What's the difference?"

"Well, a dinner party is guests that don't normally come by for dinner." she explained and checked on the casserole in the oven.

"Well, I don't normally come by for dinner." he said playfully.  
"We're going to change that." she told him slyly.

"Good to know." he said and made sure the boys were distracted with their play before he leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"When did you want me to talk to Dylan?" he asked.

"I'm not sure." she sighed.

"I want to stay the night." he told her.

Norma felt her cheeks grown warm again. Her body jumping to life at the prospect of another round of furious carnal activities. She'd been in a good mood all day and the rush of endorphins had been entirely Alex's fault.

"I don't want to have to sneak out and then back in again." he said.

"I know." she sighed feeling awkward about the situation. Dylan was a smart kid and he was capable of picking these things up from the adults around him. Norma suspected he knew more than most kids his age about what grown ups did when they were alone together.

"Maybe I should talk to him after dinner." Alex offered. "While you give Norman his bath."

"What are you going say?" Norma asked in a whisper.  
"I'll just be honest." Alex said and finished chopping the vegetables for the salad.

~ Dylan and Norman had been happy Alex had brought Graceland back with him. The dog, easily bribed by Norma with more bacon and eggs again, was happy to not be left home alone, but included in the family dinner.

Graceland had enjoyed the constant attention of the boys and the fact her partner seemed happy. The dog was able to pick up Alex's and Norma's moods easier than anyone else there.

"Mom, why are you so happy?" Dylan asked.  
"What?" Norma laughed when her oldest asked the obvious question.

"You're smiling a lot. Did we get a lot of money?" Dylan asked suspiciously.

Norma's oldest hadn't been having a good week. Shelby's disappearance had meant the little league had to shuffle teams around and he ended up with a team of older kids who played rougher than he was used to.

Added to that was being the only kid he knew who didn't have a bike and who's dad wasn't around. It had been a hard time for him and he was feeling irritable at life just now.

"No, we didn't get a bunch of money." Norma said and she finished helping Norman eat his supper. "But I have some good news for you."

She nodded to Alex to tell him.

"Well, Dylan, Sheriff Wilson has lent me his boat for the weekend and I was going to take you and your mom out on the bay." Alex said.

"For the whole weekend?" Dylan exclaimed happily.

"You didn't say anything about the whole weekend." Norma said. Her face falling at the idea of spending that much time on a boat.

"I'm sure I mentioned it." Alex said quickly. "Norman will be staying with Tom and Tess so it's just going to be the three of us." Alex told Dylan.  
"Just us?" Dylan cried happily and jumped from his seat.  
"Dylan eat your dinner." Norma ordered. Alex noticed she was neglecting her own meal so that Norman could get fed and bathed on time. She had the boys bath timing running like a train schedule. Right on time.

"Dylan, come over here and finish your dinner." Alex said in a stern voice. He was pleased that Dylan calmed down and returned to his seat long enough to finish eating. He asked again about the boat, how big it was, if they were going to sleep on it, how many fish they would catch, if they could eat the fish, and a list of other questions till Norma, her dinner only half finished, helped her youngest off his booster seat and to the bathroom for his bath time.

She glanced knowingly back at him and he nodded.

"Dylan, help me clear the table." Alex said making sure to leave Norma's plate so she could finish eating.

~ "So I need you to understand that you mom and I care about each other. That I'm probably going to be spending a lot more time here around the house. I wanted to make sure you were okay with that." Alex said as he and Dylan rinsed and put the dishes into the dishwasher for Norma.

"Are you gonna get married?" Dylan asked suspiciously.

Alex glanced at the bathroom door. He could still hear Norma talking to her youngest and the splash of bath water. She was giving them a long time for this talk.

"We're not there yet, buddy." Alex told him honestly.

"You could though. Then you could be my dad. All the other kids have dads and I don't and they tease me about it. If they knew my dad was a police man, they wouldn't tease me anymore. Can't I jut tell them you're my dad?" Dylan asked.

"No, because that would be a lie." Alex told him. "You have a dad. Remember?"

"He doesn't like me and I never see him anymore." Dylan said.  
"I'm sure he likes you." Alex sighed. "And it's his loss if he doesn't see you anymore."

Dylan looked angry and Alex saw that same face Norma sometimes made when she was angry.

"One more thing, son." Alex said.

Dylan looked hopeful when Romero used the same language Wilson used with him.

"I know we're not supposed to keep secrets. That its' bad to keep secrets, but your mom and I like our privacy and we don't want people to know we're together." Alex said.

He had his misgivings about trusting Dylan not to say anything. He was a small child after all.

"It's no one else's business." Dylan nodded smartly.

"Right." Alex said.

"Can Graceland sleep with me?" he asked.

"Sure." Alex agreed quickly.

~ "What did Dylan say?" Norma asked nervously as Alex helped her put Norman to bed. He still wasn't used to these bedtime rituals of funny pajamas and favorite stuffed animals. Her oldest was in the bathroom washing up and she allowed him the independence of a closed door and no supervision.

"He seemed okay with everything." Alex told her as he watched Norma settled her youngest child in bed with a hug and a kiss. She gave Norman his stuffed dog and smoothed out his hair before turning down the lights.

Never in his own childhood did Alex remember his mother comforting him like that. Maybe she did, but he wasn't sure he remembered it. Apart of him felt a pain of envy for the affection Norma showed to her son.

"Okay, how?" Norma whispered when she closed the bedroom door.

"Dylan! You better brush your teeth! I'm going to smell your breath and it better be minty fresh!" she shouted at the bathroom door.

"Okay!" Dylan shouted back.

"Well, I think he's more concerned about not having a dad." Alex whispered back to her as if she hadn't shouted at all.

"You know I thought he'd gotten over John." Norma said sulkily.

"You mind if I ask what happened?" Alex asked.

"Not much happened." Norma sighed once they were in the living room. They collapsed on the couch together and she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"John was… a good guy. We were married for about two years maybe. I met Sam, thought I was in love. I'm embarrassed to say I let Sam seduce me and when John found out, he left me." Norma shrugged and let out a sigh.

Alex saw her cheeks had gone slightly pink at the admission of adultery.

"He left Dylan to? His own son?" he questioned. There was nothing any woman could do that would make him abandon his own child.

"We were too young when Dylan was born." Norma reminded him.

"Still." Alex said darkly. "John hasn't tried to see Dylan? I mean, if I knew I had a child out there in the world, nothing could keep me away from him."

"Can we not talk about John?" Norma asked. "I know it wasn't that long ago but to me it feels like a lifetime."

"Okay." Alex nodded. He felt her body and tensed up too much and he decided to break the bad news to her now rather than later.

"I think Dylan knows I'll be spending the night. He asked if Graceland could sleep with him." he said carelessly.

"What?" Norma snapped.

"I told him it would be fine." Alex shrugged.

"I don't want that dog sleeping with he boys!" Norma sighed.

"Norma, the boys will be the safest they have ever been in their lives with that dog in their room." Alex insisted.

"Until she has a bad dream and decides to bite their throats out!" Norma said irrationally.

He pulled away from her in surprise and saw she looked upset at her own irrational fear of Graceland. The horrid beast in question sitting innocently outside of the bathroom door waiting for Dylan to finish his bath.

"Why are you so afraid of dogs?" he whispered.

"I already told you." Norma said bitterly. Alex noticed she and Dylan had the same pouting face to.

Norma took a deep breath and let it out. She shook her head and looked away.

"You said you were at a creek near a compound. That a man with a gun came and shot the dog. The word compound is… **alarming** , Norma. Especially if men with guns were nearby." he said.

"I don't remember. It was a long time ago." Norma told him in a far off voice.

"Okay." he said gently and refused to press the issue. "One bad experience shouldn't make you afraid of all dogs forever."

"Just like one abusive husband shouldn't make me afraid of all men?" Norma asked. She turned and threw him a knowing glare.

"I would hope not." Alex said.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Norma sighed. Her whole body crumpling slightly as if she'd run out of energy at last.

"Okay." Alex said and moved a little closer to her. His hand going to the small of her back. Immediately she leaned into him and he felt the wonderful sensation of her body weight resting on his.

"Sorry I pressed the issue." he said.

"It's not your fault." she muttered bitterly. "If I could be a normal, happy person, I would."

"So would I." he admitted. He rubbed a hand over her shoulder and felt her muscles relax under his touch. "We're all a little broken, Norma."

When the bathroom door opened, and Dylan came out in his dinosaur pajamas, Norma snapped out of Alex's arms.

"Okay, time for bed." she said efficiently. "Norman's already asleep so don't wake him."

"Can Graceland stay with me?" Dylan asked hopefully after Norma kissed her oldest and smelled his breath for toothpaste at the same time.

She turned to Alex who had joined them in the hallway.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea anymore, Dylan. She's a police dog after all." he said carefully.

"She'll sleep on the floor and not in the bed with you." Norma said at last. "If I come in there and find she in bed with you, no more sleep overs with the dog."

"I promise. I'll make her a bed on the floor and everything." Dylan said quickly.

"You're going to have to let her out first thing in the morning so that she can go to the bathroom." Alex reminded him.

Dylan nodded eagerly and Graceland followed him into the boys bedroom.

"You're sure it's okay?" Norma whispered to Alex once her oldest had shut the door behind them.

"Graceland is a big baby." Alex assured her. "She held a grudge something awful when I didn't come home last night."

"Oh, so I'm the other woman?" Norma asked. A delighted smiled blooming across her face and made her radiate with beauty.

"Yes. Yes you are." he accused lightheartedly.

Alex leaned down and kissed her sweetly on the lips again.

"See it all worked out. The world didn't end." He told her.  
"No, it didn't." she agreed. "I would have felt so guilty if you had lost your job because of me."

"It's getting late. We should go to bed." Alex said. His hands wandering down her hips and pulling her close. He couldn't resist her. She was like some kind of addiction that needed feeding. He couldn't let her go, now that he had her, he refused to give her up.

"Alex it's only eight o'clock." Norma reminded him.

"I'm exhausted." he said eagerly. "We need to go to bed."

Norma gasped slightly as he effortlessly lifted her off her feet and carried her to her bedroom. Her arms wrapping around his neck and he could feel her breathing hard against his chest in anticipation.

 **So I'm having MAJOR drama with my email and fanfic account right now. So if you've left me feedback, private messages, reviews or other things on fanfic, I'm not seeing them and I can't respond to them. It's not that I don't want to respond to them, my email and fanfic isn't letting me see them or have access to some things just now. That's why I wanted to post this chapter today so I can make sure you got your Normero fix for the rest of the week before I take my laptop in to see what's up.**

 **I can't seem to get my email on my phone either and I'm not sure what the hell is going on. Watch, I go in and they'll tell me my iPhone 6 is out of date and thats why I can't get my email and I have to buy the crappy iPhone 7 or something. Bullshit.**

 **So, while I get this sorted out, you can contact me on Instagram. My handle is Angelofthemorning1978. Same as it is here. Or just hashtag Normero and I'm all over it. I've recently deactivated my Facebook and Twitter account because of a scary stalker situation and I doubt I'll be back on them anytime soon. Sucks, but there is a nice world on Instagram that I feel a little better about. I don't know any of you personally and I oddly feel better about that.**

 **I hope I can get my account settled soon, but I wanted to give you this chapter for Sunday in case I can't get it straitened out. I don't want you to be disappointed. I'll post on Instagram soon.**

 **Mad love to you all. Yes, there will be more sexy Normero time coming up.**


	30. Chapter 30

30.

~ Norma felt light headed as the world fell away beneath her feet. She clung desperately to Alex as the sudden change in altitude, along with the feeling that she wasn't in control anymore, made her heart race by his sheer audacity in picking her up like he'd done.

She had to remind herself that this was romantic. To literally be swept off your feet and carried to the bedroom by a tall, dark and handsome man was the ultimate dream. Wasn't it?

Just now, Norma felt slightly anxious that he could so easily over power her if he wanted. That Alex, despite his lean build and layers of clothing, was deceptively strong.

She'd never sensed that he would ever intentionally hurt her, but the feel of Alex's powerful arms holding up her legs and back, seemingly without any effort at all, was frightening and thrilling all at once.

Like a well rehearsed dance move, he maneuvered them into her bedroom and gently pushed the door closed with his foot.

Norma felt her face flushing hot and red with the fact he'd just carried her over the threshold, that he still refused to put her down. Instead, he looked at her affectionally as if he could hold her like this all night. His lips inches from hers as if demanding a kiss in exchange for letting her go. His own personal hostage demanding an easy ransom.

"Alex, put me down!" Norma giggled, but she couldn't hide the nervousness in her voice.

"Okay." he said slyly and gently lowered her down till her toes touched the floor. His hand fiendishly lingered on her bottom a little longer than needed and Norma gently swatted him away while trying not to laugh too much and alert the boys to the grown up's misdeeds.

"Just being a little playful, Mrs. Bates." he whispered when she had warned him to behave.

"Oh?" she asked when his hands, so demanding, always pulling at her hips, forced her to face him again.

She felt drab and shabby be in her everyday clothes with him. He always looked good in casual clothing, but she needed to put on something a little more sexy for him.

"I- I should go change." she whispered when she felt the pull of attraction start to draw her into him. That force started in her belly and she was kissing him before she could stop herself.

Alex didn't have to do much more than rest his hands on her hips, as always pulling her hips closer to his, and wait for her to kiss him. His lips leaning closer and closer to hers, but not daring to breech the boundary of when she permitted that first contact. He was gentleman enough to give her the right of way. For her to say when he could kiss her, giving him permission for their eventual coupling. It was a boundary he wouldn't breech and she felt thankful and excited by such a ritual.

She felt that pull, that need for him start. Felt herself begin to fall under his spell where all he had to do was silently let her know he wanted her. Just a needful look at her with those sad, beautiful eyes of his, and she felt herself starving for him.

Once she started kissing him, it was like she famished and he was a feast of her favorite foods. He nourished in a way she didn't think was possible. Her body being brought back to health with every second of warm, human contact.

She felt heat rush over her face, down her neck, breasts, abdomen and start to pool between her legs. A wild, tormented craving started there that demanded attention and refused to be ignored.

She cried out slightly when she felt her lover start to kiss her neck. His lips soft and his breath hot and wet. She hadn't realized it until now, but together they had somehow maneuvered to the nearby wall of her bedroom and Alex had gently pinned her there so she wouldn't lose her balance.

Her lover moved his attentions to unfastening her blouse and Norma wished she'd be allowed to change for him. She was wearing her most basic under things and she didn't think they were that sexy.

The look on his face told her otherwise.

"God, you're so beautiful." he said breathlessly. His expression slightly sad as he looked over her face and partly exposed chest. As if he were seeing something he cherished being lost.

Alex ground his hips deeper into hers and Norma gasped at the euphoric feeling of something hard making a welcome contact with something soft. She realized that she'd shamelessly wrapped a leg around the deputy's hip already. She couldn't seem to wait to freely give him her body. To have that contact, to have him feed her after an entire day without his attention.

She couldn't stand to wear her blouse anymore and quickly shed it off, hoping to never see it again. She pulled her bra off quickly to. Not wanting to give him the chance to find fault with such a basic, utilitarian underwear choice. She was a mother of two ofter all, and wasn't used seeing herself like this.

In a perfect world, if she were someone else with a different past, she might be attending some prestigious university right now. Maybe she'd be seriously dating a handsome fellow student. Living in a chic bohemian apartment like in the movies. Going to coffee shops and poetry readings. Where when she made love to whatever brooding 'It' guy of the moment, her clothes would always be trendy and her underwear always matched. She wouldn't have any children or a job to go to in the morning.

In her sadder moments, she wised for a life like that. Would have been willing to trade it all for that fantasy life. Just now, with Alex here and her skin off fire, she didn't want to be anywhere else. Or anyone else.

As soon as her bare breasts were exposed, she felt his warm hands cover them. Felt his thumbs circle her nipples as he cruelly rocked his hips on hers. The two of them standing up against her bedroom wall, their lips barely touching with the ecstasy of touch.

"Alex." Norma panted at last when she felt a delightful tremor ripple through her body. His hands, warm and slightly calloused, moved off her delicate breasts and started to pull roughly at her skirt.

"Alex." Norma said and felt dizzy again at the rush of heat, movement and the fact that they would soon lose all control.

"Alex.. Alex, slow down." she managed to say at last. Her hands resting on his chest and she felt his body break contact with hers. Felt the horrible loss of rhythm when his hips stopped grinding into her. Her body angrily protested this sudden lack of attention, but she was thankful for the chance to catch her breath.

"What's wrong?" he asked. His own breathing coming hard and she could see that he was worried he had gone to far. Afraid she didn't want him and even more fearful he wanted her too much to care.

"Alex, you need to…" she swallowed hard and nodded to the door. "The chair… the door."

She felt herself start to shake as his hands left her skin. His eyes the last thing to leave her before he turned around and placed the old chair under the doorknob so they wouldn't be disturbed.

It would ruin the mood forever if Norman or Dylan were to innocently walk in on them. There would be no way to tactfully explain their way out of such a thing to children so young.

She turned around, away from his gaze and felt for the invisible zipper on her skirt. Her lover might rip it in their hurried rush to unclothe. She once more lamented the fact that she didn't have sexy underwear when she felt Alex's hand gently run along her waist. His fingers caressing her skin like a light tickle from behind.

"Don't forget your brace." he said and kissed her bare shoulder.

He had handed her the arm brace from her dresser, and she didn't miss the boyish look of devilish misbehavior on his face. It was one she was always on the look out for with her own son's.

"Thank you." she said feeling her cheeks grow a little warm at the idea that they had to put a stop to their instinctive nature to make sure children and still healing bones, were not disturbed tonight.

She put her arm in its' safety brace, attaching the velcro securely and was slightly disappointed to see Alex had already taken his jacket and shirt off. He was undoing his pants, his wallet back on her nightstand when she felt the need to apologize.

"Alex, I'm sorry if I ruined the mood." she said sadly.

Her arms were folded over her naked breasts in the cozy, yet dim light of her bedroom. She sensed that she'd somehow damaged things by telling him to slow down. That it was happening too fast and that she was afraid the boys would walk in. She wasn't used to this kind of thing yet. She never expected this kind of passion from Sam and with Alex… it was a little overpowering at times.

He looked at her in slight amusement before he smiled.

"You didn't ruin anything, Norma." he said with that wonderful smile brighting his entire face. He held out a hand to her and she immediately let herself be pulled into his embrace. Felt the wonderful, bliss of naked skin on skin.

His hands pushed aside her hair so that he could better see her face. His eyes appraising her features carefully before he started kissing her. It was as if there had been no interruption at all. Norma once more felt that wonderful force of attraction begin to pull her in. Felt her body respond to him as though she were starved of sexual attention. With Alex it was so easy. It was like dancing and they knew the steps and were in perfect sync. His body telling her where to go and what to do and she could respond effortlessly. She breathed in the smell of him and her skin shivered in delight at the pheromones of her lover.

She felt a giddy rush of happiness at his hands caressing her naked arms and back with a soft, almost featherlike stroke.

She didn't need his hands this time to make her hips thrust forward to meet his. The shock of her unladylike movement, her delicate fingers tugging on his pants, trying to pull them down seemed to surprise the normally stoic deputy.

"You behave, young lady." he scolded gently.

"Or what?" she challenged hotly. Her lower lip trembling slightly as she dared him to do his worst with her eyes. Her breathing coming hard and her legs starting to shake if she wasn't satisfied soon.

Alex wasn't at all intimidated by her. He gazed back at her unflinchingly. His eyes locked onto hers in serious consternation of what to do next.

His hands, neatly and quickly, slipped inside her panties, around her bottom and like a whisper, pulled them down till they puddled at Norma's feet.

Before she had a chance to protest her final undressing, he slapped her smartly on the rear. The sharp sting sending a beautiful wave of pleasure through her body but not before she cried out and glared at him in defiance.

"The only time it's acceptable to hit a woman." he said easily.

Norma, naked and unafraid, glared back at him hotly. Trying desperately not to reveal that she had enjoyed it. She'd been hurt by men before. Hurt very badly in fact. Never had she thought she might like something like this. Her backside stinging and already feeling hot from where he had swatted her. Her pride far more wounded than her bottom was.

He suddenly looked ashamed of himself. His eyes dropping down and looking away from her nakedness as if it were his penance for what he'd done.

"I'm sorry, about that." he whispered in her ear. "I got a little carried away. Forgot that… it won't happen again, Norma."

His thumb, the nice calloused one, went to her cheek and wiped something away. Norma saw that she had unknowingly shed a tear.

She realized how it must look to him, that he thought he was being a little risky and he thought she was still too traumatized for such bedroom antics.

"I'm sorry." he whispered again. His hands running politely over her back. High this time, and almost chase with the affection.  
"Alex?" Norma said in a worried voice.

She pulled away from him and felt her lower lip tremble again. Her hands started to shake. She wasn't embarrassed about being naked with him or to ask him now what she wanted.

He looked at her curiously. His expression fearful he'd be banished for such a slight and never be allowed to return.  
"What?" he asked.  
"Do it again." she demanded.

 **This chapter is dedicated to _Normasxromero_. Thanks for helping me out! **


	31. Chapter 31

31.

~ Alex felt his head spin at the grievous breech of manners he'd just committed. Norma's eyes had widened and her face looked wrathful when he'd so carelessly slapped her rear end, he though she might punch him.

Then, like the tides eroding away the beach, her angry facade melted and he feared she would start crying. A single tear escaping from those sapphire like eyes. Her lower lip trembling and she surely must have been reminded of when Sam had nearly beaten her to death in this same room.

How callous and rude it was for him to joke about the only right way to hit a woman? Even his father, the Old Bear, had never hit a woman. Had enough self respect to never strike a woman no matter what she said or did.

Why did Alex do such a thing?

Rebecca. That was why. She had trained him well with their stupid little bedroom games. Trained him to occasionally give her spankings and force him into all kinds of lurid antics that went beyond his comfort zone.

"I'm sorry." Alex breathed. His hands going to her upper back after he wiped away that errant tear from her face. He couldn't apologize enough. He couldn't entirely blame Rebecca either for how he'd acted.  
"Alex?" Norma said weakly.

"What?" he whispered. He looked carefully over her face. Observing how delicate and fragile she was just now. Mere moments ago she was shamelessly tormenting him and now she appeared so breakable.  
"Do it again." she demanded softly. Her eyes gleaming with fire that always sparked his interest. Fire that burned away any remain of Norma Bates as a victim and left behind a woman who was in control and fearless.

"Norma." he said in a calm voice.

"Alex…" she gasped and her hands went to his pants. Her nimble fingers going for his zipper.

"Do it again." he ordered.

"I don't want to hurt you." he said.

"I liked it." she whispered and her lips gently met his.

Alex closed his eyes and enjoyed the softness of his lovers lips. How she smelled and how she always made his head dizzy. All rational thought leaving him when he felt his body react to her. Felt his thinking slow as his skin grew hot and tormented. His arousal growing firm as she moved a hand into his pants to stroke him gently.

"Baby. Baby, please." he groaned softly.

"Do it again." she demanded as her hands, suddenly strong, yet gentle began to work his member up and down.

"You…" he panted sharply and managed to move his lips away from hers. "You have to tell me to stop when… when you need me to."

She looked back at him, her naked body drawing him in so that he wasn't even sure of his own name anymore. Her lips meeting his again and he was losing himself totally.

"Just say red light." he whispered before he gave up completely. "Say red light and I'll stop."

"I will." she promised.

~ "Lay on your belly. Do it now." Alex ordered.

Norma felt absolutely giddy with excitement when he agreed to spank her. It was like she was about to receive some kind of present and she happily complied to his commands by sprawling on her stomach, her head propped on her arms and tried not to smile too much.

She felt his fingers lightly trace her back, felt his body weight sift on her mattress as he moved closer to her. Felt his lips caress her ear as he whispered that she could still change her mind.

"Alex, what am I going to have to do to earn a punishment from you?" she laughed suddenly.

She felt him kiss the back of her neck and she had to fight the overwhelming urge to tell him that she loved him. She suddenly remembered Alex holding Norman in his arms in that newspaper picture. How he wouldn't let her just slip through the crack of social services system that awful rainy night. How he'd come to her aide with Dylan when she needed him. She may not be ready to say she loved him romantically yet, but she loved him in a way that was far more important.

She jumped and gasped sharply when felt the sharp sting of him slapping her bottom. Felt her entire body spasm and was worried when his hands, strong and fiendish as always, rubbed over the abused area, gripped the flesh hard and finally let go.

She was breathing heavy, her body aroused and a little frightened by what she'd gotten herself into, when he slapped her bottom twice. Once on each cheek, and gently rubbed away the offending assault. Only to slap her in the same place again.

She cried out in delight and surprised ecstasy at the euphoria that such pain could lead to pleasure. Alex knew what he was doing. His blows weren't meant to hurt, but to deliver stinging, sharp and blissful waves that made her body almost climax.

She felt her skin prickle with warmth and knew her bottom was growing hot and red from his terrible punishment.

He stopped for a moment, just to give her a rest. His lips dotting her spine in gentle little tracks all the way to her neck before his hands made her head turn up to meet him and kiss him more deliberately.

"Do you want me to stop?" he breathed.

"I don't… I don't know." Norma said honestly. She wasn't sure what to do now. She'd never had an experience like this before and didn't associate it with the violence of her past.

Alex's assault wasn't painful in the same way. It was pleasurable and it made her feel incredibly sexual the way her bottom moved after ever stinging blow. His hands always quick to smooth over her wounded flesh and she felt safe knowing she could stop him at anytime. That this was just a game and she was in control and he had to do what she told him to.  
"We're done." he whispered and kissed her gently on the lips again. "Roll over on your back, beautiful."

She grinned and happily did as he said. She didn't feel as if he'd bossed her around or taken control of her. More like he was concerned for her. Like he cared enough that he didn't want to push her limits.

She felt how hot and raw her bottom was when it made contact with the sheets and was thankful he'd put a stop to her spanking. Thankful for the way he was looking at her now. Like he was looking at something painfully beautiful. His eyes taking on that sad look as he leaned over and kissed her.

"What's wrong?" she whispered when he pulled away.

"Nothing." he shook his head. She could still sense there was a cloud forming behind those eyes of his. A sadness he wasn't willing to share with her yet.

She nodded and allowed him to keep those things to himself.

She watched her lover lean over to her nightstand and pluck up his wallet. Easily fishing out the condom from the same place he'd stored it last night.

Norma sat up, her interest peaked as he started to open the wrapper. Her hands diving back into his unzipped pants where she was pleased to find his already enlarged member in need of attention.

"I'm glad you remembered last night." she whispered kissing him. Obviously distracting him from the very important job at hand. "Last night and tonight."

Her lover was breathing hard and trying to pull the contents of the package free. Norma taking pity on him and plucking it from his hands, her fingers easily slipping the condom out of the package. With a certain devilish delight, perhaps brought on by her spanking, she looked up at him as her fingers wrapped around his erect shaft and she rolled the protective sleeve over its' head, and down to the base. Her hands give him a few firm tugs out of spite. Making his face go into a slight snarl at her mistreatment.

"Lay back down. On your back. Do it now." he ordered in short hard sentences.

Norma grinned and took her time about obeying him. Allowed him to suffer slightly as he watched her slowly lay back down. Her legs folding almost chaste like under her.

Her lover looked amazing in the moonlight that streamed through her bedroom window. She'd never really appreciated till now how toned and defined his body was. How with every breath, she could see a beautiful array of intricate muscles come into play from his arms, neck, chest and legs. He was like a work of art and she lamented the fact he had to ware so many layer of clothing from the cooler climate here.

He allowed her to examine him as he took a moment to look her over as well. Appearing to appreciate every aspect of her body. Every curve and the contract of how softness and hardness would meet.

"Come here." he whispered at last when he couldn't seem to stand another moment with touching her. He knelt before her and Norma felt her legs go limp and spread for him. Her lover so easily causing her to weaken and give into him.

His lips met her, his body touching hers and she never felt more complete. His skin was warmer than hers and she felt the hardness of that well toned body. A body that could lift her with ease, hurt her even easier, but never would.

Alex would never so much as hurt her feeling intentionally let alone her body. The spanking was a delightful teasing and she had enjoyed it. She would make him do it again because he would do whatever she asked and they both knew it.

"God, Norma…" he panted. His hands gripping her bottom as if he was drowning.

She felt that rush of excitement again and she kissed him wildly.

"Make love to me." she ordered. "Do it now."

He didn't need to be told twice. She felt the air being pushed out of her body when he forced himself inside her without warning or apology. Despite the foreplay, despite the fact she had told him to, she wasn't ready. There was still too much tightness on her part and she felt resistance at the largeness of him going in.

"Alex!" she whimpered and tried to maneuver her small body out from under him. He was trying to be gentle but he couldn't let her go. His member sinking slowly and carefully into her and she fought over the feeling of discomfort and pleasure all at once.

Norma gripped hard on his back and dug her nails into his skin. Her lover, so mindful last night, was having none of it now. He kept himself buried inside her, before pulling her arms off him and over her head. Gently restraining her so she wouldn't hurt him.

She had to tell herself to relax as he began to slowly work himself inside her. Remind herself to breathe and accept him in deeper. Her lips found his neck and she inhaled his smell before kissing him. His thrusting taking on a soothing rhythm that made her not feel so tight around him.

She felt him slide in and out easier and her legs started to go limp as the waves of pleasure rolled over her. Her lover's member was warm and welcome now and she felt her back arch as he rocked himself inside her.

She felt him kissing her gently and realized he'd released her hands. Assured she wasn't going to harm him anymore. Their lips meeting in perfect sync with their bodies as her legs spread wider and invited him to go deeper.

His hands, calloused and wonderful, tormented her delicate flesh and seemed to take special interest in her breasts. She realized that, even though he'd told her before, she really **was** beautiful. He was worshiping her body just now like she was some sort of goddess. His lips seeming to pay tribute to her and his hands prayed over her as he gave her his body in sacrifice.

All too soon she felt the exciting spasm of an orgasam take her and she tried to push him away in frighting anticipation.

"Baby." he whispered softly and held her closer to him. His rhythm picking up as she moaned and cried with the unexplainable sensation that was ripping her body apart.

Alex seemed fascinated by her climax. His own completion spurred on faster by the fact that she'd arrived so quickly and seemed to favor vocal outbursts when she did so. His lips covering hers so she wouldn't become too loud and wake sleeping children down the hall.

Norma moaned loudly in his chest as he thrusted faster and faster inside her. He intentions were to gain his own satisfaction just now and the time for loving embraces were over.

Instead, she felt flattered by the fact that he was using her body so roughly just now. That he was making her breasts move with such vigor and that she had become nothing more that a sexual object to him. Enjoyment and nothing else.

He groaned in a beautiful kind of agony and Norma felt proud of the fact she had brought him to such a devastating ruin.

Alex Romero, so strong and brave was left panting, sweating and totally defeated by her. He was weak and helpless as a kitten now as he laid on top of her body. How easily she had destroyed him.

Maybe she was a goddess after all.

She gently kissed his sweaty temple when, with renewed energy, he picked his head up and looked at her critically.

"What?" she whispered.

His eyes searching her face as if all the secrets of the world were hidden there. Finally his fingers brushed over her lips and she felt his softening erection start to move out of her body.

"What is it?" she whispered. She was starting to get worried now that she'd done something wrong.

"I… um…" he said and swallowed hard. "I love you. I wanted you to know that."

She felt a grind tug at her lips. She had wanted to tell him those words to but didn't want to seem clingy or scare him. She always assumed men didn't like it when you told them you loved them too soon in the relationship. They had only been together two days after all.

"You're telling me this now?" she managed to say as she tried to remain serious. A smile wanting to bloom on her face again.

"Yeah." he nodded and looked at her affectionally.

"Well, I love you to." she said and tears of happiness sprang to her eyes.

"Okay." he said easily.

She felt nervous burst of laughter erupt and was relived that he wasn't bothered by it. Instead he seemed to find her more enchanting than ever. That smile was back on his face and he was transformed into someone far removed from the angry deputy she'd met that dark rainy night a few months ago.

His hands whipped away her tears and he kissed her lips.

"Lets go to sleep." he said and started to roll off her. He was gentle again and she felt safe as and protected as always when they were together.

"Okay." she said trying to control the butterflies in her stomach.

He settled next to her in bed and when they glanced back at one another, it was hard not to feel slightly nervous about what they'd just confessed.

Still, when they made eye contact, there was a slight smile from both of them that was reassuring and made everything alright.


	32. Chapter 32

32.

~ Norma always loved the sounds of birds singing. Their songs broke open the dawn at the first hint of sunlight and she was glad she lived in a little house surrounded by woods. Tall trees where countless birds were singing this late into spring were better than any alarm clock.

She opened her eyes and looked at Alex still sound asleep beside her. His snores were light and his breathing deep. He'd be asleep for as long as she let him.

She looked over his untroubled face as if trying to detect some kind of hidden meaning she'd never noticed before. He was handsome, there was no denying that. His features classically rugged in an exotic sort of way. Romero wasn't the all typical American boy next door and yet, he wasn't out of place with them either. He was reserved and soft spoken. His manners caring and he was good at listening to. Not to mention the gift of that beautiful piano.

 _'He told me he love me last night_.' Norma reminded herself and felt her heartbeat faster at the idea that this man, a good man, might have actually meant it.

She wasn't foolish enough to believe it though. Shelby had told her the same thing hadn't he? Told her that he wanted a life with her and that he loved her and all the while he was hurting her son.

She and Alex hadn't been together romantically for very long, less than a week now. True, they had been friends. If you could call it that, since she arrived here. He had seemed to look out for her and she wasn't lying when she confessed she felt safer with him there.

She also wasn't lying when she told him she loved him to.

For a few wonderful moments of bliss, Norma let her mind play over scenarios of what might be. As the birds started a melody of morning songs, she visualized a happy home with Alex and her sons. How they would lead perfectly ordinary lives and how that would be more than enough. Her breathing picking up at the idea of Alex teaching her sons some kind of sport. Didn't he say he'd played baseball in high school? How she'd never have to worry about bills being paid late or not at all because Alex wasn't that kind of man. Maybe, someday soon, they'd get married. They could get married and Alex could adopt the boys as his own. He might even suggest they have a child of their own for good measure. Maybe the little girl Norma had always wanted.

Norma felt a panic seize her body and she couldn't stop the feeling of dread washing over her. If she married Alex, it would be her third marriage. She wasn't even twenty-five yet and she was looking forward to her third marriage? She was never a good wife. John and Sam had both told her so. She wasn't good at putting a husband first and providing for his needs above hers.

Adopting her sons? That was ridiculous to. Alex wasn't their father and why should he be burdened with another man's unwanted offspring? Sure, Norman was young enough to not remember Sam and Dylan had no feelings left for John at all anymore. Her first husband hadn't seen her or Dylan since before Norman was born. Hadn't even called.

She felt the panic grow sharp and painful when she remembered what Alex had said last night. How if Dylan was his child, he wouldn't ever just let him go. Never just walk away.

Norma had been lucky with her oldest child. Dylan had no outward deformities and nothing that tied him to the horrors of her past. Still, the specter of it lingered there in the shadows. Waiting for her to tell her oldest the horrible truth about where he'd come from. Who his real father was. The ugly truth was content to wait in the shadows and grow more and more twisted until the day came when Alex would mention adopting the boys as his own. A day when court papers would have to be drawn up and the question would be asked why John never paid child support and why Norma didn't force him to. Why her first husband had so readily abandoned his family and why didn't Norma try to keep Dylan close to the man he thought was his father.

What if Dylan's real father got wind of the adoption and came to investigate? What if he took one look at their son, at **his** son and tried to take him away? She would die if anyone tried to take her child from her. If anyone knew the disgusting truth about who she really was.

"Norma?" Alex's voice floated to her and she tried to relax and act normal again. She put on her false smile and looked brightly at him nestled beside her.

"Morning." she whispered as the light started to peek through her bedroom curtains.

"A very good morning." he chuckled with an amused grin. His eyes lingering over her face before he leaned in to kiss her.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"About six." she whispered. "I'll have to get up soon. Go to work."

"Same here." he said. "We have to have dinner with Wilson and Tess tonight. They have a nice guest room for all of us to stay in. We can get an early start on the bay tomorrow."

"Fishing." Norma sighed. She'd forgotten about the trip.

"You'll love it." he whispered and kissed her hand.

She rested her head back in her pillow. Somehow she doubted she would enjoy fishing, but she liked the idea of being out with Alex. Somewhere other than her house and in the bedroom.

"You looked a little sad before." Alex commented. His voice interrupting her thoughts again.  
"I was just thinking." she murmured. She wasn't about to admit to him the dark thoughts that clouded her mind sometimes and caused her to feel terror when she should be happy.

"About what I said last night?" he asked carefully. His face looked concerned that she might want to take back what she'd said. When she told him she loved him to.

"A little." she admitted truthfully.

"Oh." he whispered. He looked away from her and she regretted hurting his feelings by seeming sad that he had told her something so wonderful.

"It's only because… I mean, we haven't been together for very long, Alex. Not like this." she reminded him.

"And it's easy to say those words during sex, I know." he said tersely.  
"Alex." she sighed.

"You should know I've never… well, not in a long time anyway, said it to anyone. Anyone besides my mother." he told her. His eyes flighting back over to her and she looked away from his intense stare.

"I'm not the kind of person who says something like that… just because I'm in the moment, Norma." he said coldly.

"I know." she said quickly. "I know that. I… I was just surprised."

"I don't want you to feel like you needed to say it back." he said.

"I wanted to say it back. I would have said it first but I didn't want to scare you." she rushed ahead and felt a grin bloom on her face.

He smile was slower, but it was coming.

"Alex, you've meant more to me than anyone I've ever known." she confessed.

"Why did you look so sad before?" he asked.  
She shrugged and couldn't hide the look of sorrow she knew radiated out of her now.

"If this doesn't end well, I don't know what I'd do without you." she whispered.

"Who says it's not going to end well?' he challenged. She could feel his feet maneuvering under the blankets to capture hers.

"Who says it has to end at all?" he asked playfully. She tried not to smile, she hated it when he teased her like this.

"You know what I mean." she told him. "You're my best friend and I don't want to lose that. I'm scared we're moving too fast."

"I'm scared we're not moving fast enough." he whispered.

She felt a swell of self satisfaction grow large inside her.

"I was very unhappy before we met, Norma." he told her. "I was lonely all the time and angry at the world. I think I'm a much better man since I've met you."

She had no trouble believing that. Alex had always struck her as being the kind of man who was emotionally distant. That perhaps his walls were even more fortified than hers.

"I'm a lot happier since I met you to." she whispered.

"Okay." he said. "So lets not screw it up."

That smile was finally on his face and she didn't see a trace of the angry, stoic deputy who she was scared to trust that rainy first night. Instead she saw the man she loved and the man she could easily spend the rest of her life with.

"Okay." she agreed. "We have to get the boys up and dressed."

"I'll do that. You can get dressed." he offered sliding out of bed and Norma had to look away from the sight of his still naked body from last night.

"I don't know if that's a good idea. It might confuse them." Norma reminded him as soon as he pulled on his pants.

"I'm going to be here a lot, Norma." Alex reminded her. "Its' normal for me to be apart of their lives isn't it?"

She couldn't find a valid reason to say no, but she wasn't crazy about the idea of her sons knowing there was a man sleeping in the same bed as their mother. Dylan might not mind, but Norman was always a little over protective of their relationship.

"Okay." she agreed. "I'll start breakfast and you can try to get them up and dressed."

"If I can handle shift change at the department, durning a power outage and flooding with over crowded cells, how bad can two little boys be?" he asked.

"Your life insurance is all paid up, right, deputy?" she teased.

He gave her an amused look before detaching the chair from under the door knob and opening her door to the hallway.  
"Norma." he said in alarm and she realized something was wrong when he looked back at her. His focus now on the floor just outside her bedroom.

She jumped from her bed and pulled on her blue robe.

Huddled there in the hallway, right in front of her door was her youngest child Norman. He was asleep in the fetal position and Alex's dog, Graceland, was protectively nuzzled around the child's body to keep him warm.

~ "Norman!" his mother cried in alarm when she saw that her child had spent the night just outside her door.

Alex felt annoyance at first that her youngest would resort to such infant like tactics for attention from her. Then he was ashamed of himself for even thinking that of the small child who wasn't used to not having access to his mother at night.

No doubt he'd had a nightmare or worse, heard them in the throws of passion, and tried to go to Norma for comfort. Failing to get in and being ignored by the adults during their carnal activities, he'd fallen asleep out in the hallway. Graceland coming out to keep the little boy company as was her animal nature to protect such a small and helpless creature.

Norman had used the German Shepard's body like a large pillow and cuddled around her as if she were his only friend in the world.

"Norman?" his mother cried again and shook her son gently.

"It's okay." Alex said and knelt down to pick the little boy up.

"Alex, he tired to get in. He's used to sleeping with me sometimes." she whispered when he neatly fitted Norman into his arms and stood. The child's slight body was nothing at all to him and Norman fell back asleep almost immediately.

"Maybe I should stay home from work. He might have caught a cold." Norma said worriedly.

"Go ahead and get dressed." Alex said. "He's fine, he needs to learn to sleep in his own bed."

Norma gave him an angry look and Alex felt bad he had tired to tell her how to parent a child that wasn't his.

"He was warm enough with the dog out here and he'll be fine for daycare." he assured her.

"What if he heard us last night?" Norma whispered. Her eyes large with embarrassment.

Alex couldn't think of a reply to that. Norman was already starting to wake up and he looked cranky about the night he'd endured in the hallway with only Graceland for company.

"We can tell him we were moving furniture." Alex whispered. He grinned at Norma's scandalized expression as Norman started to rub his eyes awake.

Alex looked down at Graceland who wagged her tail hopefully.

"Good, girl." he said to his partner.


	33. Chapter 33

33.

~ Where Norman was a light sleeper, Dylan seemed to be the sleep champion of the family. When Alex carried the yawning toddler into their shared bedroom, he was greeted by Dylan's heavy breathing and slight drooling on his pillow.

"Mother." Norman groaned when Alex gently lowered the younger child onto his feet.

"Your mom's fixing us breakfast, Norman." Romero said and looked carefully over the little boy's face.

Norman Bates had almost nothing in common with Sam so far as Alex could tell. Perhaps his hair was a shade darker than his mother's but he was her child through and through. Norman had the same blue eyes shared by everyone in the family. A blue that seemed to change hue when strong emotion took hold of them. Colors capable of transforming from very light to very dark within the span of minutes.

"Let's get you dressed." Alex sighed and looked around the neatly organized bedroom. Norma had assigned the boys their own dresser and it wasn't hard for Alex to locate a pair of jeans, shirt and socks for Norman to wear.

He was surprised when the little boy, small and quite, took the shirt from him, peeled off his pajama top and started dressing himself.

"You don't need help?" Alex asked.

"No." Norman said carelessly. He tried to pull the shirt over his head, not realizing it was backwards, and Alex, careful not to overcorrect Norman's efforts, gently turned it around the right way.

"Good job, Norman." he said when at last, the child managed to dress himself with impressive success.

"I know." Norman said and started to pull his socks on.

Alex held back a smile and decided now was as good a time as any to talk to him about what had happened last night. Dylan was still sleeping heavily and from the sounds and smells coming from the kitchen, there would soon be bacon.

"Norman, why were you out in the hallway last night? What happened?" Alex asked.

He left the question opened. Didn't want to give Norman a possible answer. It was the kind of thing Tom would do. Make the person tell you instead of give them an easy way out that wasn't true.

"Wanted to sleep with mother." Norman told him as he pulled on his socks.

Alex wondered why Dylan called Norma ' _Mom_ ' and Norman insisted on calling her ' _Mother_ '. It seemed slightly odd, but children this age were always a little peculiar. Maybe he had picked it up on TV or from another child. His own grandfather, Simon, didn't like to called Granddad. He'd wanted to be called pop, insisting he was still too young to be a grandfather. Somewhere Alex had picked up the term Granddad hadn't ever been able to drop the habit of calling him that.

"You know, you're a big kid now." Alex said carefully. "You're dressing yourself, going to daycare with the other kids. Those are things that the big kids do."

"I know." Norman said and looked back at Romero with bitting blue eyes that were the same color blue as a terrible oncoming storm.

"Norman, big kids sleep in their own beds. In their own rooms. Don't you like sleeping in your own bed?" he asked.

"Wanna sleep with mother." Norman said.

Alex turned when he heard Dylan snort and roll over in bed. His heavy breathing changing rhythm as he woke up.

"Bacon?" Dylan muttered half asleep.  
Alex wasn't nearly as gentle with Dylan as he'd been with Norman.  
"Get dressed, Dylan." he ordered and took Norman's hand. "You're gonna be late."

He grabbed ahold of Dylan's foot, uncovered by the blankets and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"Okay." Dylan groaned and sat up looking confused and with rumpled bed hair.

~ Graceland was being treated to a bowl for fried eggs and rice that morning when Norma finished making bacon and cutting grapefruit.  
"I'll have to bring dog food for her." Alex's voice drifted from behind her. She turned and her heart beat a little faster at seeing her youngest child secured in his booster seat at the table. Alex had taken the time to get him dressed and seated at the table for breakfast.

She had to tell herself that now was no time to start having butterflies in her stomach for Alex over this. Whenever she saw him taking care of her boys, especially Norman who was so small and helpless, she found herself so much more attracted to him.

"Dylan's getting dressed." he said.

"Good." Norma nodded when she'd snapped out of the fantasy of Alex heroically rescuing Norman from some kind of near disaster and maybe helping him learn to ride a bike after. Just the thought of it made her legs go slightly weak.

"You know…" Alex said in a loud voice so that Norman was sure to hear. Norma looked at her youngest who gazed back at her innocently. "Norman got himself dressed today all by himself. I was very impressed." Alex said and nodded to her to play along.

"It's impressive." Norma said in a loud voice and nodded back. She wasn't sure where he was going with this, but trusted he had a plan.

"It is." Alex agreed. "He's a big kid now."

"Yes, he is." Norma agreed.

Her youngest glared at them.  
"All the big kids sleep in their own beds." Alex said and looked to Norma for agreement.

"Alex." she whispered hotly and rolled her eyes away from him.

He looked slightly annoyed she hadn't agreed to play along anymore.

Instead, Norma brought the bacon, grapefruit and toast to the table and fixed a plate for her youngest.

"Norman, honey, I know you like sleeping with me sometimes." she said and kissed her son's head. His hair still as soft as feathers. "I want you to try really hard to stay in your own bed."

"No." Norman whined and started eating his breakfast.

Norma looked back at Alex and she didn't enjoy the coldness that fell between the both of them.

"Bacon?" Dylan interrupted the tension with his entrance into the kitchen. He hand't combed his hair, but at least he was dressed.

"Sit down, everyone." Norma ordered and went to pour her and Alex a cup of coffee before they joined the boys.

"He's my son." she whispered to him once they were safely out of hearing range of small ears.

"I know." Alex whispered back but there was still that annoyance in his eyes that made her feel as if she'd betrayed him.

"Let's sit down and eat." she nodded to the table.

Alex's gaze lingered on her for a long time before letting go and they pretended everything was alright.

~ "Maggie Summers." Tom Wilson reported during the morning briefing. Wilson was good about briefings and keeping his people in the loop about what was happening. He didn't leave it to chance or trust his deputies to read reports. He always made sure that everyone involved in the day shift knew what had happened in the past 24 to 48 hours.

Alex looked up at the mention of the familiar name.

"What about her?" he asked. His mind was still back with Norma in the kitchen when she hadn't backed him up about Norman sleeping in his own bed. In his hart, he knew he'd been out of line and he had no business to tell her how to raise her son. Still three years old was too old for such nonsense in his opinion.

Now that he finally had her, Alex found it difficult to share Norma with anyone else. Not even her children. He hated that selfishness about himself, but he couldn't help feeling resentful about his morning with her being spoiled by Norman Bates.

"We responded to a 911 call to her home last night." Wilson said casually. "Seems our favorite local drunk, Keith Summers, broke into his sister's home and for reasons unknown beat the living hell out of her."

Alex let out a sigh. He'd grown up with Maggie Summers. Graduated high school with her. Keith was two years older than they were, and had always been an epic disaster waiting to happen.

The Summer's family had once been prosperous in White Pine Bay. Owning acres of logging land a house almost as grand as the Lawson's and Paris'. Now, after a few decades of bad investments, or constantly bailing out their spoiled, entitled, children, the money had long run out. In the sixties, the family had made one last ditch effort to remain self sufficient and built a motel on the last strip of property they owned.

The twelve room establishment, know as _The Sea Farer Inn_ was small, poorly maintained, and was situated unflatteringly next to the family's grand old Queen Anne house on the hill.

Even with it's location on the highway, it quickly gained a reputation as a seedy place. The Old Bear having to make many arrests there all through the seventies and eighties for every kind of crime you could name.

Finally, when Jack Summer's died in the winter of 1990, Keith and Maggie didn't have the money to bury him, let alone make much needed repairs to the motel to keep it open. To make matters worse, there was talk that Jack or Keith had taken out loans against the property and had defaulted on them. The grand Queen Anne on the hill, once a jewel in this town, was neglected, in need of repair, and going up for auction soon.

"Problems, Alex?" Tom questioned when Romero had remained quite. His face no doubt more angry than usual.

"Maggie Summers." he shrugged.

"Yes?" Tom nodded.  
"I know her." Alex confessed. "We went to school together. We were friends."

"Good. Maybe she'll talk to you. Maybe you can get her to press charges on her no good brother and we can send him away for breaking into her home and assaulting her. As it stands now, she's refusing to press charges and we can't hold him much longer." Tom said handing Alex the paper work from last night's arrest.

"Is she in the hospital?" Alex asked looking over the incident report that was typical of Keith Summers' antics. Alcohol had been involved and he'd most likely been looking for money. Trying to shake his sister down for cash when she was barley making ends meet working as a cashier at the grocery store.

"No. She refused treatment at the scene." Wilson said.

"I'll talk to her." Alex nodded. Saddened that his old friend was living such a depressing life.

~ Maggie Summers had always seemed a tragic figure to Romero. She and Keith were cursed with premature aging and in showed in their faces, posture and the early onset of gray hair. With Maggie, there was a certain hopelessness about her that Alex had always found very sad. His own home life as a child wasn't exactly wonderful. Nothing about living with the Old Bear was easy and his mother's illness, whatever it was, had created a confusing childhood where he blamed himself for not being able to help her.

Yet, Alex had never felt as beaten down, as unloved or neglected as Maggie Summers had growing up. From a very young age, she just had this look in her eyes that Alex recognized as nothing but fear.

She'd show up to school in ill fitting second hand clothes and tattered shoes. The other kids would laugh at her and she'd always had that defeated look on her face. Her eyes looking away and holding back tears. She was always afraid of something, although she would never tell anyone what it was.

Of course, in this town, everyone already knew what the Summers kids were afraid of. Jack Summers was the local drunk, brawler and wife beater long before his son, Keith Summers, took up the mantle. It was no secret he beat his children and that his wife was too afraid to leave him. Cancer finally took Margo Summers in the early eighties. That's when things got really bad for Maggie.

Somehow, she'd survived it. Stayed in her home town where her abusive brother still lived and where there wasn't much opportunity to make something of herself. Maybe she was scared to leave. Afraid, just like her mother had been, to ever stray too far.

Alex pulled up to the small but cozy rental house Maggie Summers occupied and noticed that, even though she lived alone, she took good care of the property. Planting flowers and keeping the grass neatly trimmed. No wonder the landlord was easy with her on the rent. Maggie must be a dream tenet who made her own repairs and didn't have a need for more than one bedroom.

He saw her right away by the garden shed outside, getting ready to start yard work. A large, straw hat obscuring her face.

"Hi, Maggie." Alex said sadly when he approached her with caution.

"Hi, Alex." she said an avoided looking at him. The bruises to her face were worse than what Sam had done to Norma.  
"I… um… I heard Keith paid you a visit last night." Alex said and looked away from her. It wasn't in their code of former classmates and casual friends to make eye contact.

"He was just drunk that's all. Had a few too many." Maggie shrugged.

Alex looked back at her and thought how her shoulders were more slumped since he saw her last. How she seemed more depressed than normal.

"Yeah." Alex agreed. "Keith. He's had a few too many a few too often."

"He'll sober up." Maggie sniffed.

"I think you should press charges, Maggie." Alex said.

"No." Maggie said and Alex saw a flash of teeth as she smiled at the silly idea. "No, Keith wouldn't like that."

"He's going keep doing this if you don't."

"If I bring the law into our family business, it's going to be worse." Maggie said as if reciting some well worn family creed. Which she probably was.  
"That's your mother talking." Alex reminded her.

Maggie glared at him. Her lip trembling. Alex remembered how close she'd been with her mother before she died.

"You know it's not going to get better. He was looking for money, wasn't he? Couldn't find any so he started beating you?" Alex asked.

"Well, we can't all be Norma Bates can we?" Maggie said gently. "Her own personal Sheriff's Deputy coming to her aide and shooting her problems dead."

Alex felt as if Maggie Summers, a woman incapable of hurting anyone, had just slapped him. He stepped back a little and she had the sense enough to look away from him.

"I wish I was Norma Bates, truth be told." Maggie chuckled at herself. She started to arrange her gardening tools. "She comes into the store all the time with her two kids. She's very pretty. No wonder she caught Shelby's eye. Caught your eye." she added as an after thought.

"Maggie I'm not here about Norma Bates. I'm here about you." Alex said.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Maggie said with a sudden rudeness Alex wasn't used to from her.

She turned back to him and he saw how much her bruised face had aged over just the past few years. Maggie was barely thirty and she already looked like she was ten years older.

"Maggie-" Alex said again.

"Alex, just go away. You know I'm not going to say a bad word about my brother." she said softly. Her eyes filling up with tears and Alex was reminded of a frightened rabbit that was too afraid to run and was waiting for the death blow. It's eyes wide and accepting of it's fate in life.

"Okay." Alex nodded. He could accept her fate in life to. The Summers family would never betray one another. That's just how they were. He turned and started walking back to his SUV. Graceland waiting for him in the passenger seat.

"You might want to keep an eye on Norma Bates." Maggie said with her back turned to him.

Alex stopped and didn't turn around to ask what she meant.

"I just heard Keith and Jimmy Brennen talking about her. A few nights after Shelby left town." Maggie said and went to work cleaning her gardening tools.

Romero didn't turn around.  
"Oh?" he asked.

"Yeah. Talking about how she's all alone in that house on Pine View Lane. How it's just the two little boys with her. Laughing and talking about how pretty she is." Maggie said casually. "Not good talk either. Not talk like that."

Alex felt slightly sick and felt dizzy at the rage that suddenly boiled inside him.

"They were drinking." Maggie said quickly. "Maybe it didn't mean anything."

"Oh." Alex said numbly.

"Yeah." Maggie said darkly. "Keith's always been afraid of you, I think. Ever since you beat him up our sophomore year for trying to force himself on that girl in the parking lot. He's never forgotten it. Talks a lot about how he's waiting for the right moment to get you back. Course he's been saying that forever now."

Alex said nothing. His mind felt like it was racing. Maggie wouldn't tell him this unless it was serious. Unless the threat was real.

"I'd just keep an eye on that Norma Bates if I were you, Alex." Maggie said in a sad voice that she had all her life. "Her and her little boys are really nice. Always smiles at me when she's in the checkout. She's a really classy lady. No wonder you like her. Just watch out for her, okay? Make sure she stays safe."

"Thank you, Maggie." Alex said. "I will."


	34. Chapter 34

34.

~ Alex didn't want to admit that he'd been spooked by what Maggie had told him. It wasn't like her to exaggerate things or even speak about her brother's private conversations to anyone, let alone law enforcement. If she was worried for Norma, the threat was real.

His mind was running over all the nights Norma had spent alone in that house with the boys after Shelby had been run out of town. A week of her being unprotected where anyone could have-

He shut his eyes at the idea and finished the paper work on Maggie Summers. His right hand reaching for the desk phone as soon as the report was pulled out of the typewriter.

He had written down Norma's work number after finding out Hilary had hired her. At the time, he never meant to actually call her for personal reasons, it was just in case he needed to contact her. Strictly a professional obligation as a Sheriff's Deputy.

He was a little surprised when Norma herself answered the phone. She sounded slightly rushed and the noises of a busy kitchen could be heard in the background.

"Hey, it's me." Alex said and kept his voice low so that others passing by his desk couldn't hear.

"Hi." Norma sighed into the phone. The noise from the kitchen seemed to fade and he guessed she move to a quite area to talk. "I'm glad you called."

Alex felt his body relax. He'd forgotten all about the tense morning with Norman and his overstepping his place within the realm of her parenting her own children.

He let out a long breath and felt a smile want to bloom on his face. Why did her voice have to always sound so melodious? He wasn't sure what to say now.

"Can… um… can you get off work early?" he asked playfully. His cheeks feeling hot at the idea of wanting to steal her away from the world.

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"I…" he wasn't able to stop smiling and had to turn his face away from the front so that no one in the office could see him grinning just now. "I just realized that you've never been to my place." he said at last.

The excuse sounded feeble, even to himself. Norma didn't seem to buy it either.

"Oh?" she held back a laugh. "No, I guess I haven't."

"Maybe I could pick you up. Take you by there and then we can go get the boys. Take them to Tom's house for dinner. Spend the night." Alex suggested.

"Spending the night at Sheriff Wilson's house?" Norma laughed.

"Well, we need to get an early start tomorrow morning, Norma." Alex reminded her. "Remember, the fishing trip? We'll leave Norman with Tess and Tom. We'll get him back spoiled rotten and full of sugar. Tess loves kids and she'll love Norman."

"Women have always loved Norman." she sighed. "I don't know what it is about him."

"So I'll come pick you up in five minutes?" he said hopefully.

"I think you just want to get laid, Deputy." she teased him playfully.

"I swear my intentions are honorable, Ma'am." he grinned.

There was a current of unspoken words that passed between them.

"I'm sorry about this morning." he said. "He's your son, you know better than anyone what's best for him."

"Thank you." she said. "To tell you the truth, I like having Norman sleep in the same bed as me. It's comforting. Maybe you're right though, maybe it's time I encourage him to sleep on his own."

"Your bed is getting a little crowded just now." Alex added.

He smiled when he heard her giggle over the line.

"I can get off now. All my work is done for the day. I can make something up." she said.

"Good. I'll pick you up."

"Wait, won't people see you in the Sheriff's SUV? Arn't we supposed to be keeping a low profile?" she asked.  
"I don't care." he said hurriedly. "I'm leaving now."

He hung up the phone and snapped at Graceland who quickly jumped off her bed and was at his side.

~ The Sheriff's station was right across the street from Hilary's catering business and Alex had always waited to go into work until he saw Norma pull up in her run down Buick and go inside. A part of him wanting her long before today had jealously guarded her even then. Making sure she was safe and looked well each morning. He had always enjoyed seeing her bright blond hair being lit up in the early morning sun. The way her body moved as she hurried into work as if she were a well trained dancer and not just a single mother trying to make ends meet. Her clothes always draping her body perfectly and moved with her in ways that only accentuated her natural grace.

Even now, he still made sure she arrived at work safely each morning.

"Want to tell me what's going on?" Norma asked as soon as she darted from under the awning outside and into his police SUV.

It had started to rain and she wasn't used to these sudden downpours that were always cold, even in early summer.

"I told you." he said and put the SUV into drive. "I wanted you to see where I live."

~ It wasn't the best excuse he could think of. Now that he put more time and thought into it, he should have come up with a better plan. Told Wilson about what Maggie had said maybe. However, involving Wilson might have made things even more complicated.

Keith Summers and Jimmy Brennen were drunks and they did a lot of talking and very little action. Alex didn't want to admit that they had rattled him. He would gladly take both of them on in a fight. Fair or not. Coming after Norma, hurting her. He couldn't bare that and they seemed to know it.

He pulled up to the little house with the green shutters he'd been renting since he'd come home from the Marines. Unlike Maggie, he'd done very little with the yard and general upkeep. He was glad his landlady lived next-door and she paid a man to do all the mowing for the entire property. This left Alex with very little responsibility other than paying the rent and utilities on time.

As for the house itself, he suddenly realized it wasn't too inviting to the fairer sex. Certainly not to someone like Norma Bates. A woman who thought it was normal to have fresh flowers on the table every other day, clean laundry neatly folded and put away, a well stocked fridge, real curtains and everything in the home smelling clean and inviting.

Alex's home looked like he was in-between moving in and moving out. Boxes of things he'd always meant to unpack still lined the used dinning room. There was nothing decorating the walls. His furnishing were basic, monochromatic and lacked any warmth. The TV and stereo were the only items he had invested any thought and care in. Making sure their placement was just right to avoid glare from the window on the screen.

Not that he had much trouble with that. He'd cleverly hung a dark bed sheet over the window instead of curtains.

Norma stepped away from him as she entered his house and carefully explored on her own.

Alex shut the front door behind him and made sure to look out the window just in case they had been followed. He hated that he was letting this Keith Summers threat bother him. He wasn't afraid to shoot him dead. He would be doing a lot of people, including Maggie, a favor if he did. At the same time, Alex couldn't allow himself to be like his father. That was how the Old Bear handled things. Take out the most pressing threat, the alpha male, and the rest will fall into line.

It had worked well for him, but Alex didn't want to go down that road. Once you sold your soul, even for a good reason, there was no going back.

He turned to see Norma was still looking over his home.

"Is this your mom?" she asked leaning down to examine the only picture Romero had on display.

Alex felt slightly awkward that Norma was seeing that photograph. No one ever commented on his mother because they all knew better. Knew the pain she had caused him when she died. The hole that she'd ripped into him when she chose to leave him like she did.

Norma hadn't touched the picture in its' simple wooden frame. She'd respectfully wrapped her hands around her waist to avoid disturbing his world. As if his home were some sort of odd bachelor museum.

"Yeah." Alex said when she looked back at him.  
"She's very pretty." Norma nodded. "How old were you here?"

Alex barely glanced at his younger self.

"I think I was a little older than Norman." he admitted softly.

Norma smiled, but she didn't show any teeth. Alex watched her in slight fascination as she carefully wandered around. Her interest now on the kitchen table that was crowded with his school work. Aside from his textbooks, which looked disorganized on his kitchen table, there was nothing to show anything of his personal life.

"What's this?" Norma asked and gently pulled free a handsome leather bound envelope with his University's emblem on it. He'd carelessly left it on the table and made sure he got official copies of his transcripts.

"Oh, my degree. I graduated last week. They sent it in the mail." Alex shrugged.

Norma looked horrified. Her eyes growing wide as if he'd personally offended her.

"What?" he shrugged.  
"Why didn't you tell me you graduated? I would have come." she said. She opened the envelope and looked over his degree.

"I didn't even attend the graduation, Norma." Alex laughed. "It's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal. It's a VERY big deal." she snapped.

He watched in fascination as her eyes moved over the paper and his curiosity finally got the better of him. He'd only glanced at the official degree when it came in the mail a few days ago. In all honesty, he'd been too busy with the newness of his relationship with Norma to care about anything else.

Now that he looked at it, the certificate was slightly garish.  
"Alexander Marcus Romero." Norma said proudly reading his full legal name.

"My father… his um… his name was… IS Marcus." Alex explained.

"Oh." Norma said.

"Yeah." Alex said.

Norma didn't ask about his dad and Alex didn't offer anymore information. He knew the rumor mill in this town had filled her in well enough.

"I'm very impressed, Alex." she said running her fingers over his name. "We'll have to have a special dinner to celebrate and get this framed."

She looked around his barren living room.  
"We could use a little more decor." she added woefully.

Alex grinned and she gingerly handed him the leather envelope with his well earned degree so that he would put it some place safe.

Alex quickly stashed it on his desk and forgot about it for a few weeks. He watched her explore his kitchen. Didn't protest as she opened the cabinets and fridge to see what foods he ate or the foods he didn't bother to keep in stock.

"I need to take you grocery shopping." Norma decided.

"Thought you were going to make me a special dinner." he whined playfully.

"You can't spend every night at my house, Alex." she said. Her cheeks tinting a slight pink.

"Why not?" he asked seriously. He had no use for this house anymore. It was cold and unfeeling. He'd never really unpacked from moving here and it was never home for him. Alex Romero had no home. Not really.

Norma gave him an amused look and didn't say anything. Her cheeks still an enchanting pink that let him know she was slightly embarrassed.

She looked over his neglected laundry room that was only utilized when he was truly desperate for clean clothes. The equally forgotten backyard that only Graceland used as a bathroom. Romero's one upgrade to the house was putting in a doggie door for her.

She wandered back into the living room and saw the second bedroom he meant to use as on office was empty. Alex never having the time to put his desk in there let alone set up an office. His bedroom was even worse. A queen sized bed, night stand and dresser were all that populated the room. Alex couldn't even bring himself to decorate his bedroom except with an old desk lamp and alarm clock.

"I like the bed sheets stapled to the walls instead of curtains." Norma said at last.

"I thought it was pretty cleaver." Alex agreed. He stepped towards her from behind and rested his hands on her hips. His fingers gripping possessively and pulling her back to him. He felt her back arch slightly and sensed her breathing change.

"Alex." she whispered. "This is why you brought me here?"

She turned around and faced him. He could smell the inviting scent of her perfume mixed with the fragrance of the sugar she'd used for baking that morning.

"You wanted us to be alone?" she mewed softly as their lips met and he couldn't stop himself from bucking his hips into her. His hands going to her backside and pushing her closer to him so she couldn't get away. A wild, possessive part of him was done being a gentleman. Was done with being polite for one day.

Kissing her was like drinking the finest of sprits and becoming drunk. The rush of blood and endorphins raced through his body and he felt his head spinning slightly. Before he could stop himself, before he could wait for her signal that it was okay to proceed, his hand was moving downward and pulling up her skirt. His fingers gliding over the smoothness of her well toned thigh.

He felt her chest heave with the sharp intake of breath and she broke her lips away from his.

"Wait." she panted slightly and he quickly pulled his hand off her leg and placed it on her back. Fearful he'd overstepped but unwilling to let her entirely go.

"Please." he whispered in her ear. He could feel the roundness of her breasts through their clothes against his chest. Feel how soft her skin was when he kissed her bare neck.

"Alex…" she breathed and she tried to maneuver away from him. His grasp on her body finally releasing her. That selfish part of him, the part that hated a small child this morning for demanding his mother when Alex wanted her all to himself, didn't want to heed his lover's need to slow down.

"Okay." he nodded and allowed her to separate herself from him. His body not getting the message that she needed a moment. He still needed her. He wanted her in a way he wasn't used to wanting a woman.

His normal sexual encounters were simple, direct, discreet and on occasion, regrettable. He had never been tied down to a relationship since moving back home because Alex Romero wasn't exactly what women wanted. He obviously wasn't domestic and had no plans to change that about himself. It wasn't in his nature to be nice to people. Normally. He always had a very cold, indifferent attitude and was even told he gave off negative energy by Tess Wilson.

Women his own age wanted a life partner. They wanted a husband, father and a provider who would put them first in all things. Alex Romero didn't fit the bill. He wasn't willing to sacrifice himself, his time or his energy to please anyone.

Then, Norma came along. Suddenly, all the things that he wasn't willing to sacrifice, didn't feel like such a sacrifice anymore. His time didn't feel so valuable if it wasn't with her. His energy felt wasted if he wasn't using it to benefit her in same way. As for sacrificing himself, Norma seemed to give him so much more than he could ever give her.

"Sorry." Norma breathed and leaned away from him. "It's just a bit of a rush."

"It's okay." he said somewhat out of breath himself.

Norma looked slightly worried and Alex's hands ran across her back and traced around her arms, lacing his fingers with hers. Trying to keep her close to him.

"You know it's not just us, right?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked. He was focused on her eyes entirely. Those great pools of blue light that were drawing him in like Ulysses being lured to his death by the sirens.

"It's never going to be just us, Alex. Just us alone like Dylan and Norman don't exist." Norma told him helplessly.

Alex leaned away from her a little and saw that she was upset.

"I'm a mother. I'll always be a mother even when the boys are grown. I'll always put them first. I've always had to put them first and I can't help it." she admitted.

"This is about what happened this morning." he nodded.

"You bringing me here." she looked sadly around his bachelor pad. "I know you wanted us to finally having some time alone, but you need to know that I can't exactly sneak away with you like this whenever you want. You have to accept that I have to be at home every night with my children and that I can't act like a single girl with no responsibilities."

He wanted to say something but decided to let her keep going. Whatever Norma needed to say to him, clearly had been weighing on her mind.

"If you want to be apart of my life, that's what I want, Alex." she said. He watched as she took a deep breath and let it out. The fire in her eyes never wavering and causing his appreciation for her to grow.

"But…" she sighed darkly. "If you're apart of my life, you need to be apart of my son's lives to. We're not sold separately and never will be. You can't have me without them. I can't be your lover and not be their mother."

She looked slightly miserable at the ultimatum she had laid down.

He waited for her to go on, but she seemed to have finished. Her eyes, those enchanting pools of light, avoiding him and leaving him in the dark.

"Okay." he nodded.

Norma looked sad but accepting of his indifferent answer. As if he would ever give her up when he knew from day one she was a mother who's first priority was her young sons.

Her eyes looking away again and still he refused to let her go.  
"I was really just hoping I could have my own drawer at your place. Make things a little easier in the morning." he said easily.

Norma let out a bubble of nervous laughter.

"Sorry." she said at last. "It's just…"

She gave him a wonderful smile that seemed to light up his sad world.

"Norma, I know that you're a mother. I know you put the boys first. I've always known that." he said honestly.

"Then why'd you bring me here?" she asked skeptically.

Alex was prepared to be honest with her about anything, but wasn't ready to scare her over something as vague as a drunken threat by Keith Summers.

"Norma, I need you to trust me." he said.

"I do." she nodded quickly.

"Good." he said.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"It's nothing to worry about. It's okay." he said but he saw the concern spark fiercely in her eyes.

"Are you in danger?" she demanded.

"Of course not." he said and tried to act casual.

Norma's lower lip trembled slightly and he felt as if she could see right through him.

"Alex, are **we** in danger?" she asked.

 **We all know a single guy who has an apartment like this. LOL!**


	35. Chapter 35

35.

~ "Those two boys of yours are pure angels." Tess Wilson said happily as she and Norma cleared the table after dinner. Alex and Tom had gone out onto the back porch to talk and keep an eye on the boys who were delighted with the new environment of the Wilson homestead. Tess had cultivated a large vegetable garden and even raised chickens on their land. Something that fascinated Norman. Tom giving them permission to explore the vast countryside so long as they stayed in sight of the house and to take, ' _that dog_ ' meaning Graceland, with them.

Norma wasn't above accepting praise for how well behaved her children were. She knew they were perfect.

"Thank you." Norma said and helped the graying hippie chic start with the dishes.

Tess and Tom seemed like an odd match at first. Norma had hard time picturing them together as younger people, but for all their differences, they seemed to compliment one another. The silver fox was always stoic and reserved. His words coming slow and sometimes harshly.

Norma had expected Tess to be a rebellious, silly and flighty thing. Still enamored with the romance of her bohemian roots. Not living in the real world at all.

Nothing could be further from the truth as it turned out. Tess Wilson was a sixth grade school teacher and yoga instructor. She was reasonable and very grounded in reality. The only thing that seemed to distinguish her as out of step with the mainstream was her style of dress and her overall calmness.

Tess wore bright yellows and oranges. Her clothing seeming designed for comfort first and all else was secondary. Norma couldn't put a name to it right away, but she finally decided that Tess Wilson **owned** herself.

Tess wasn't there to impress anyone or to live up to anyone's expectations. She dressed and acted exactly how she felt and Norma found she was envious of such a free state of mind.

After the two women had made small talk about gardening, Norma wanted to start her own vegetable garden soon but the weather here was unpredictable, the subject moved over to raising children.

"It's been hard." Norma agreed when Tess asked how the boys were adapting to life here.

"Don't worry." Tess said. "Once school starts Dylan will make new friends and settle into a routine."

"It's not Dylan I'm worried about." Norma confessed. She felt at ease with Tess. She could sense her gentle nature and could let her guard down around her. Tess didn't judge people.

"The little one." Tess said knowingly.  
"Norman. Yes." Norma breathed. "You know, Alex and I are seeing each other now, and…" she looked out the window at the back porch. The Sheriff and Alex looked deep in conversation. Alex especially looked more troubled than usual.

"Norman doesn't like Alex?" Tess asked.

"No, I don't think that's it." Norma sighed. "He's just used to having me all to himself. He's used to climbing in bed with me at night sometimes. When he was a baby, I always had him in the bed with me. I guess I feel bad that I have to choose between Norman and Alex."

"There's no choosing about it." Tess said quickly. "The child is almost three and needs to learn independence."

Norma was expecting some sympathy from the gentle hippie woman but Tess only shrugged.

"Sorry, but it's true. I've taught school too long and I've seen young boys who's mothers coddle them too much. They get warped, Norma. Start getting confusing ideas about woman, sex and their mother's place in all of it." Tess said. "The sooner he starts sleeping on his own, exerting his independence, the happier he'll be."

"Confusing sex ideas with their mothers?" Norma laughed. Surely Tess was joking.

"It's true." Tess nodded. "I had one little boy, back in the early seventies, who's mother was a real shrew. Made him sleep in the bed with her till was grown. Never let him have any girlfriends, gave him all kinds of confusing ideas about sex. He turned out very creepy. Always gave people very psychotic looks."

"Well, Alex agrees with you." Norma sighed. "About Norman sleeping in his own bed."

"I know it's hard, but with boys, they need some distance from their mother sometimes. I raised three boys and not one of them turned out strange. At least not too strange. One's gay, but we knew he was gay since he was two." Tess shrugged.

"Oh." Norma said in surprise.

"Tom and I always had our bedroom off limits once any of our babies were able to sleep through the night. It keeps the marriage spark alive if you have a place where the kids aren't allowed. Sort of a safe place for the adults." Tess said drying the dishes.

"I can't keep my sons out of my bedroom." Norma laughed. "We're not that kind of family."

She'd always prided herself on being close to her sons. Close in a way her parents never were with her and Caleb. She wanted her sons to feel loved, not shut out.

"It's your choice." Tess agreed. "So tell me how things are going with you and Alex. You know he's never brought anyone here to meet us before."

Norma blushed and looked out at the back porch again. Alex must have sensed she was thinking about him because he looked up and their eyes caught each others. She couldn't tell what Wilson was saying with the back door closed but Alex looked glad to see her.

Norma turned around and smiled.

"It's going well." she said simply and avoided Tess' gaze. She was remembering how Alex had told her he loved her last night. Her smile unstoppable when she pictured it.

"He's not too difficult to put up with? Sometimes, Alex can be a little abrasive." Tess asked.

"Not with me." Norma shrugged. "Not with the boys either. He's…" she felt her cheeks grow warm again. "He's very good with them actually. Dylan adores him and Norman… I'm sure Norman will get used to him."

"Well." Tess said with an amused little smile on her wrinkled face.

"What?" Norma asked.

"Nothing." Tess shook her head but still looked entertained.

"What is it?" Norma asked.

"I can tell when a woman is in love." Tess said.  
"We…" Norma tried to explain but didn't want to deny anything.

"Alex brought you here to meet Tom and I. We're are the only thing close to family that poor young man has left anymore. Aside from his grandfather in the nursing home. The fact he's brought you here, brought the boys here, it means something, Norma." Tess explained.

"We're not getting married or anything." Norma said quickly. Her voice trying to make light of the idea of wedded bliss with Alex.  
"Why not?" Tess asked. "You could do worse. Alex is a little guarded, that's true but he's more stable and reliable than most men."

"I've been married twice already." Norma said shaking her head.

"Third time will be the charm." Tess said. "Besides, you and Alex would make pretty babies."

Norma almost dropped a dish when she said that. The idea of having another baby right now, even with someone she loved, was terrifying. Nothing in the world burdened her more than children. Children who needed her for everything and could do nothing to provide for themselves.

Tess looked perplexed at Norma's expression.  
"Don't tell me you haven't thought about it." she said. "The two of you are very attractive."

"I'm…" Norma let out a nervous laugh and shook her head. "No, I defiantly don't want another baby. Norman is potty trained, Dylan starts kindergarten in the fall. I can finally focus on having a life again."

Tess looked surprised at Norma's reaction. Surprised and heartbroken.

"Three kids." Norma shook her head. "I'd be this ' _Mom_ ' person. Forever." she said.

"Well, I can understand that." Tess said. "Tom and I kept getting in the family way so often, its' like we didn't know what caused it."

Norma smiled and felt herself relax that Tess understood.  
"But you'd have to admit." Tess nodded to Alex who was still deep in conversation with Sheriff Wilson.

Norma looked out at her lover and admired the rugged features that had always attracted her to him. His lean build, enchanting eyes and his classic tall dark and handsome looks.  
"Admit what?" Norma asked. Her focus on Alex and thinking of how he would look at her when they were alone.  
"The two of you would make pretty babies." Tess said.

The old hippie lady wandered away towards the living room. Leaving Norma alone in the kitchen.  
"I know." Norma whispered to herself.

~ "I can't believe you're letting that rotten Keith Summers spook you, son." Tom snarled at Alex.

The two men had left the women to do the clean up and went on the back porch to talk business. Tom and Tess belonged to the older generation where the gender roles in the home were clearly defined. Roles that they couldn't break out of no matter how much the world changed around them.

Tom didn't trouble himself with the running of the house, and left Tess to seemingly do it all without effort. Everything from holding down her own job as a teacher, to raising a total of five children. Housework seemed to be the least of her workload.

Alex was glad he helped Norma cook a little and clean up. Glad he could help her by getting the boys dressed in the morning at the very least.

"Maggie wouldn't have said anything if she wasn't concerned." Alex said. "She's not like that, Tom."

"Keith Summers." Tom shook his head.

Alex, worried about Norma, turned around in his chair and saw that she was looking back at him from her spot at the kitchen sink next to Tess. She was lazily drying a dish and looked lovely in the domestic role. He finally started appreciating the strange attraction men had for a woman who could cook and clean. Alex had never thought it was a necessity till he met Norma Bates. Now he wondered how he hadn't starved to death years ago.

"That whole Summers clan is no good. Your father knew it to." Tom snarled. "How they could threaten a young mother like that."

"Maybe it was just drunken talk." Alex offered. He turned away from the window and focused now on the problem at hand.

"What if it wasn't?" Wilson said. "Have you told Norma?"

"No." Alex said quickly. "I don't want to scare her."

"Maybe she needs to know, Alex. It's one of the hazards of being involved with a law man." Tom said. "People are always looking for revenge."  
"She's been through enough. I won't make her live in fear over some off handed remark by a couple of drunks." Alex told him.

"Fine." Wilson said. "Keith Summers was released from lock up a half hour ago. It's good you brought Norma here. Good that you're spending the night. I'll have Washington or White patrol her house every half hour. You'll be staying with Norma and the boys every night I assume?"

"She gave a drawer and everything." Alex said.  
"Very serious." Wilson said. "Things are moving pretty fast between the two of you."

Alex watched Norman and Dylan run across the large back yard with Graceland. The Wilson's lived out in the country and had no fences. Tom telling the boys to stay where they could still see the house. A creed that had he'd no doubt grown up with and felt was good enough for kids today.

"Things are going well, Tom." Alex admitted. That's all he would say.

"I'm guessing you're going to marry her soon enough." Tom said casually.  
"Thought you said we had to keep a low profile." Alex reminded him.

Tom shrugged.

"Ideally." he said. "I think everyone in town knows though. You know how it is. It's not that hard to put these things together."

"Great." Alex sighed.

"Just make sure she knows what being the wife of a cop means, Alex." Tom said. "It's not always easy."

"I know." Alex sighed. He knew full well from watching his mother what being married to a man in law enforcement was like. Norma wasn't like his mother though. Norma was much stronger. She was fearless and capable enough to meet any battle head on.

"Make sure you make her a wife before you make her a mother, Alex." Tom said without preamble.

"Tom, what the hell?" Alex asked in surprise.  
"I've seen the way you two look at each other. You act like she's the only person in the room. She's in love with you, Son. Anyone can see that. You're in love with her to. Just remember that love fades and a baby is forever." Tom said.

"I know a baby is forever." Alex snapped feeling like he was seventeen and being scolded by his ball coach.

"Just be careful." Tom said lazily.

"We are." Alex said hotly. "I have… no interest in being a father."

"Too bad." Tom said. He nodded to the boys playing with Graceland. "I've seen you with them, Alex. I think you'd make a good one."

Alex looked out at Norman and Dylan chasing Graceland and laughing in the grass. His heart aching over the idea of having children with Norma. How he could finally have a family of his own. Something that was his. His blood, his history, his life existing outside of himself.

"Just be a good husband first. Alright?" Tom said.  
"Alright." Alex said not listening to Tom anymore.

 **Pretty Babies! Fan Girl Screaming!**


	36. Chapter 36

36.

~ "Alex can I ask you something? It's about Tess and Tom." Norma whispered in the tiny bathroom an hour later. She was almost done brushing her teeth when Alex knocked to see if the shower was free.

"You're wondering why they have such a small house on all this land." Alex whispered with a little grin.

"It's weird." Norma nodded and rinsed.

Alex shrugged leaned against the counter. His eyes wandering over how lovely she looked with her hair still damp from her shower, no make-up and the perfumes of ordinary soap still clinging to her skin.

For modesty sake, she wore a night dress that might have been designed for a turn of the century grandmother. Yet, on Norma, it was still beautiful.

"I mean, they had all those kids, you'd think they'd want more bedrooms here. Instead they have only one extra room with two full sized beds? It's going to be strange with the two of us sleeping two feet away from the boys." she reminded him.

"We can skip a night." Alex shrugged easily.

Norma rolled her eyes and he could feel the annoyance in her glare even when he looked away.

"I mean, you really need to control yourself, baby. I'm not going anywhere. You can have me anytime you want me." he said adding fuel to the fire.

"That's not what I meant, Alex." she said with slight amusement in her voice.

"They raised their children, devoted their lives to bringing them up, and now it's their time. It's their time to be alone and re-invest in each other again. They moved here and bought this small house so none of their grown kids would move back home." Alex explained.

"That sounds awful." Norma whispered. Her lovely face looking horrified. "You know, I don't ever want Dylan or Norman to think they weren't welcome in their own home. They should always feel like they would be able to come home again."

Alex didn't agree, but he knew better than to argue.

"None of us can go home again, Norma." he said at last. "We have to learn to make our own homes."

She still didn't look happy about the idea of two loving parents not keeping their children's bedrooms perfectly inshrined for them for all eternity.  
"The boys are young, Norma. By the time they're eighteen and twenty we'll be ready for them to leave the nest and only come back for the holidays." he assured her.

" **We'll**?" Norma asked in surprise.

"What?"

A lovely smile spread across her face.

"You said by the time the boys are eighteen and twenty, **we'll** be ready for them to leave the nest." she reminded him.

"I did?" he asked. Alex wasn't sure if he said that or not.  
"Yeah." Norma nodded. "You did."

She looked amused and Alex felt his heart beat a little faster.

"You planning on sticking around that long, Deputy Romero?" she said trying to control the grin that was making her cheeks grow pink.

Alex looked away and felt his own smile emerge.  
"If you don't get sick of me, Mrs. Bates." he sighed.

"I don't see myself wanting to get rid of you anytime soon." she said with a wonderful shyness that made Alex reach out to her.

Norma's slender hand slipped into his outstretched palm and he sweetly, and chastely kissed her hand. His fingers curiously brushing over the details of her delicate palm. How easily she allowed him to hold her hand now. As if they were sweethearts in some long ago courting ritual.

"Then I'd like to stick around for quite a while." he said his focus purely on examining the fine lines of his lover's fingers. The delicate smoothness of her unpainted nails.

"I'd like that." she whispered.

He looked up and saw that her cheeks were still slightly pink and when her eyes met his, he saw they were the same color blue as a perfect summer sky. The kind of sky that promised perfect weather, long hours on the bay waters, and nothing but good memories.

"I should check on the boys." she said. Her face looking slightly embarrassed. Those summer sky eyes darting away from him as she pulled her hand back and left him alone in the small bathroom.

~ Dylan and Norman were already asleep when Norma checked on them. The two children cuddled together in one bed and looking peaceful.

Norma watched them sleeping over the sounds of running water from the bathroom next door as Alex showered. She felt slightly gleeful at what he'd inadvertently confessed. That he'd thought about a future with her. That he wasn't just with her for sexual pleasure, he wasn't just with her for the moment, he wanted to be with her for a long time.

Norma watched her boys sleeping and imagined Alex being in their lives full time for many years. They would benefit better from Alex's influence than any other man she'd ever known. Unlike her own father, or theirs, Alex was calm and not prone to violent and unpredictable outbursts.

It seemed unlikely he would come home drunk and try to hurt her or them. Also unlikely he would neglect paying bills on time and they would have to move under threat of eviction.

At worse, at the very worse, Alex might have a wandering eye. He was a good looking man in uniform and she knew better than anyone how attractive that could be.

Yet, at the same time, she doubted he was the unfaithful type. Alex seemed to crave stability. Seemed to need the simply ordinary life that she and the boys provided. She'd never heard any talk about him being a ladies man. Only how mean he was when roused to anger. Another trait she'd never really seen. Alex Romero had never been mean to her or the boys.

She started when the bedroom door opened and Alex snuck in.

"Are they asleep?" he whispered when she jumped at the intrusion. She quickly pulled the covers over her feet and legs as if that would hide what she'd been thinking about.

"Yes." she whispered back and made sure he had reached the empty side of their bed before shutting off the light.

The mattress springs making loud noises when he sank into it and Norma let out a slight giggle at the idea that they really couldn't get away with anything tonight.

"Behave yourself." Alex whispered in her ear when he spooned around her. His hands coming to rest first on her hip before reaching around to cradle her body more comfortingly.

"Can't believe we have to be up so early." she groaned. She loved the way he smelled fresh out of the shower. Plain soap and whatever natural scent that was his body were appealing to her.

"Believe it." he said and she felt his lips brush her temple.

She felt herself falling asleep already when his voice floated to her.

"You and the boys were wonderful tonight at dinner. Tess and Tom were impressed." he said in her ear.

"I'm glad. I'm glad we made you proud." she whispered not opening her eyes.

She felt his hand move down and his palm spread possessively over her stomach. She was already too tired to think about the significance of it, and could feel sleep coming for her.

"I love you." he whispered softly.  
"I love you to, Alex." she whispered back.

She would never remember it, she was already half asleep, but Alex would always remember when she'd sighed the words ' _Pretty Babies_ ' before a slight snore could be heard.

~ It was hard to believe it was morning when everything was still dark and quite. There were no signs of other people and no birds singing. White Pine Bay felt empty with all its inhabitants still asleep. Yet, the air felt electric with the promise of a new day.

Alex and Dylan were waiting for her in the cab of a well worn pick up. It looked massive compared to the newer, smaller cars and Alex had mentioned once it was for a farm, wherever that was.

She didn't like the idea of leaving a sleeping Norman all alone with just Tess and Tom for the day. What if he woke up and panicked at being with strangers? Not even Graceland was staying to sooth her youngest.

Tess told her that the bay was no place for a child Norman's age, and Tom agreed that Dylan needed time with just her and Alex.

"Your youngest will be fine. We won't sell him to the gypsies." Wilson promised as Norma hurried to the waiting truck.

Her oldest son looked tired, but excited to be going on his first real fishing trip.

"Why do we have to be out on the water so early?" he asked Romero once she had carefully climbed into the cab. This old truck clearly wasn't made for someone wearing a dress. She felt like she was climbing on a horse just to get in.

Norma fastened her seatbelt before Alex drove out of the Wilson's long driveway.

"Because that's when the fish are the most active." he explained. "They feed early and it's easier to catch them. Also, if we go too late, the other boats will be out and scare the fish away."

"We have to use worms, don't we?" Norma asked. She wasn't looking forward to that.

Dylan looked excited and she thought she caught Alex holding back a smirk.

~ Norma held Dylan protectively back and had already strapped him into the child sized life vest Alex gave her. She was constantly thinking of what could go wrong today. The large red boat capsizing and Dylan drowning were the tamest of her fears.

Norma had to admit, Wilson's boat was very nice even if it was only used on the weekends. It could comfortably seat half a dozen people, had a well equipped kitchen and even a small bedroom and bathroom below deck.

The boat, " ** _The Jailhouse Now_** " was meant to be for long trips. Maybe even out into the ocean and not just limited to the bay.

"I take it Tess doesn't come out here too much." Norma mused. She watched Alex bait her line and was surprised to see Dylan was already fixing his own tackle without any help.

Alex gave her an amused look.

"No. She hates fishing." he said. "She's always glad to see us leave for the day. I think she knows she won't have to put up with a husband for a few hours."

"It's nice not to have to put up with a husband sometimes." Norma agreed playfully.

She and Alex exchanged looks. That delightful current of school yard teasing ran between them again.

"I wouldn't know. Never had a husband before." he told her casually.

She grinned at the comment.

"Mom! You're gonna scare off the fish!" Dylan complained.

Norma looked up to see her oldest had thrown his line in and was standing on the edge of the boat. Graceland looking at him in eager anticipation.

"Dylan, no sit back down!" she ordered.

"He's fine." Alex said calmly. "The waters' still."

Norma wasn't listening to him and rushed to her son's side. She quickly pulled the child back to a safer spot and made him sit down.

"You could fall in." she scolded.

"Mom! This is fishing. You're messing it all up!" Dylan told her harshly.

"If 'messing it all up' means I don't want you to drown, then fine, I'm messing it all up." she argued.

"Dylan, stay in the seat." Alex ordered. "Your mom's right, you could have fallen overboard and I don't want to jump in to save you."

Norma turned to look at him in annoyance.

He looked back at her from his seat. His eyes innocent, but mischievous.

"What? The water's really cold." he explained.

Graceland, sensing she could alleviate the problem, silently posted herself next to Dylan and watched her young ward benevolently. Norma felt herself relax as the large dog looked at her son with affection and was clearly protective.

Dylan reached around and scathed the dog's head. Obviously Graceland was the only fishing companion he wanted just now.

~ Aside from Norma's paranoia, Alex thought things went very well. It was clear she had no interest in fishing, but it was nice to spend time on the bay. There was a sort of magic in the air this time of morning. None of the summer people were out yet and Alex hand't seen a single boat belonging to the other fishermen. He could easily imagine they were the only people in the world right now.

He glanced back at Norma to see if she felt it to, and saw her shivering slightly from the chill in the air. Even though it was early summer, the bay still held onto the cold in the mornings. While he and Dylan had dressed more practical for the chill that hung over the water, Norma had worn a fairly thin summer dress with an equally thin sweater. It was an odd choice of fashion to go fishing in, but she did look very lovely. Especially when the breeze picked up and made the dress flutter slightly.

"Cold?" He asked and pulled off the jacket he was wearing. She nodded, her lower lip still quivering slightly. Gratefully, she pulled it on and he noticed her body was so slight she looked to be drowning in his jacket, but seemed warmer.

"Thank you." she said with a soft smile.

Alex hadn't bothered to dress his own lines, but stayed entertained by Dylan's rapid progress. The little boy was able to dress his lines, organize the tackle box, and cast his reel with ease. He still needed help pulling in the bigger fish when his line suddenly jerked. His mother was terrified a shark like fish might pull too hard and drag her son underwater.

"I've never seen that happen, and I've come out here since I was his age." Alex told her.

"Never say never." Norma said. "I mean, he's little and a big fish could just pull him right overboard."

"I think you're thinking of a Bugs Bunny cartoon." he offered.

He didn't miss the look she gave him. Her eyes angry but her lips curling into a smile.

"Alright, Big Shot." she said. "When the Lochness Monster pulls him in, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Wow." Alex said hopefully. "We could be on the news."

That last comment was a little too much and she looked ready to argue.

Alex was quick to remove himself from the situation by helping Dylan recast his line so it would land farther out.

~ "When are we going to eat the fish?" Dylan asked hopefully.  
"We can go on shore and I can build a fire." Alex explained as he showed Dylan how to properly gut a fish. Something that made Norma turn away in disgust.

"You've been doing this all your life?" she asked. Even though the 'sport' of fishing was gross, Alex was very good at it.

"Yeah, I always had friends who's parents took them out." he explained slowly. "I went with them."

"You never went fishing with your dad?" she asked.

Alex didn't answer. The two of them watched Dylan in silence. Graceland seated next to him like a proper guardian.

"Your dad must have been busy. He was the Sheriff here when you were little right? He must have had to work a lot." she said. She had meant it to be gentle. She didn't want Alex to be upset by her knowing too many personal details about him. He'd offered up so little information about his past.

He didn't answer right away. A darkness seemed to have passed over his features.

"My dad was the Sheriff." he said soberly.

Norma knew not to say anything, but she couldn't help it.

"Yeah, that's what Sybil said. I had asked her why she calls you Little Bear. She told me your dad was called-"

"He's in prison, Norma." Alex interrupted curtly.

Norma wished she had just kept her mouth shut and looked away. Thankful that Dylan was well out of hearing range.

"I'm sure you've heard the gossip." he added.

She said nothing and the two of them were quite for a long time. Letting the stillness of the morning add to the weight in the air.

"So, what did you hear?" Alex asked at last.

"Nothing. I shouldn't have brought it up. Its' personal." she said quickly.

"No, I'm curious." he said. "Did you hear the theory that I was the one to turn him in? Or that I bribed the DEA agent? My personal favorite was that I'm really a double agent for the DEA and a local Sheriff's Deputy is my cover story."

He smiled, but it was a mocking smile.

"Alex, I'm sorry I said anything." she said at last.

He shook his head.

"No, it's fine. It's old news anyway. I shouldn't be bothered by it. No, Norma, my dad never took me fishing. He wasn't a good person for most of my life. He was a dirty cop, a bad father and an even worse husband." Alex explained.

He was silent for a long time. Norma felt uncomfortable at the sight of his face losing whatever happiness he'd gained that morning.

"I'm sure you heard about my mother." he sighed. His voice was still cold.

Norma pressed her lips shut.

"She passed away. Seven years ago now. Suicide." he said.

"I'm so sorry." she whispered. She meant it to. She was sorry this happen to him.

"Yeah, that's my sad story." he admitted with a pang of indifference. "We all have them. It's only fair you know mine."

She felt as if she'd wounded him by bringing up a painful part of his past better left buried. She knew all about wanting the past buried.

"See this?" she asked. Her hand going between her legs, pulling up the sheer summer dress she wore.

Alex looked slightly alarmed that she was exposing herself to him when her son was just a few feet away. His gaze relaxed when he saw the frighting scar on her thigh.

Norma ran a hand over it. The scar was her oldest friend. Time hadn't healed it well and in the light of the morning, the scar tissue was more noticeable than normal. She was sure Alex had never seen it before now. He was the type of man who focused on other physical attributes when they were together.

"My first memory." she said with difficulty. "Was being burned."

Alex ran his fingers lightly over the scar, the burn was high on her leg so it was easily hidden. He looked back at her curiously, waiting for her to go on.

"I was about three and my brother and I were hungry. So, we decided to start a campfire behind our house and cook some hotdogs." she explained. She almost laughed at the absurdity of it. "I think the electric and the gas must have been shut off because we couldn't use the stove and a fire outside seems like a great idea. We actually bought the hot dogs at the store with some spare change and decided we could cook our own food and take care of ourselves. I remember I was running and jumping and then I feel into the fire. It burned me. My brother, he pulled me out. He doctored up my burn, and we ate our hotdogs."

"Were your parents mad?" Alex asked. He didn't seem to judge the actions of a child. Didn't show contempt at the situation or seem to realize how horrible it actually was growing up.

Norma shook her head. She was smiling and she didn't know why. Her false smile coming out so well just now.

"No, they had been gone for about a week. Left us alone. When they finally came back…" she sighed. She didn't want to remember when her father came back home "I don't remember why they left us for so long. I just remember my brother took care of me. We felt very independent. It's odd that it was such a hard time in my life, but I don't think I was miserable. Maybe because I was so young."

She was watching his fingers trace over her scar. His eyes seemed fascinated by her imperfect skin.

"It was always like that when I was growing up. We were just abandoned a lot. We were always on our own. My mother wasn't really there mentally. She drank and took a lot of medications. It was like she just checked out. We never had a stable place to live, never enough of anything. My father was always angry. I remember hiding from him. My brother…" she took a deep breath. "He would always get in my dad's way, you know? If I was the one who was about to get the belt, my brother would do something to piss him off more so that I wouldn't get hurt."

Norma pulled her dress down and covered her scar again. Alex tactfully withdrawing his hand from her thigh.

"Where is your brother now?" He asked. His eyes were focused on her face. The cop in him listening to every detail so he might better understand. The sun had finally come up while they were talking. It was going to be a beautiful day. Norma pictured the lie she told herself and decided it was a nice enough story to tell Alex. For all she knew about her brother these days, it was the truth.

"Few years ago, he got mixed up with some bad people and got himself killed." she said simply.

"I'm sorry." Alex said sadly.

Norma shook her head.

"All in a day's work. I had left home long before it happened." she admitted.

Alex was still interested and she knew that he felt pity for her. She smiled and pretended her past didn't bother her at all.

"So, that's **my** sad story." she said happily. She tried to smile brighter, but it came out wrong. "Maybe we can choose our own destiny. Not have our past choose it for us." she added with a pain of sadness. Before she came here, before Alex, it felt like her path in life would always be tragic. Like she was a puppet and someone was pulling all the strings.

"Maybe." Alex said agreed. "Hopefully."

"You changed my life." she offered. "I would still be an abused wife. My son's would still be terrorized. You changed my life when you pulled Sam over that night."

~ "I'm glad." Alex said feeling happy again.

He didn't like the idea of talking about his father or his mother. He knew that eventually he'd have to explain to Norma about the DEA crack down on the Old Bear and how he'd come home to find his mother cold in her bed. Her bedroom colored in yellow and her lips blue. The farm house he'd grown up in sitting empty because Alex couldn't bare to go back there after she died.

He watched in fascination as her summer dress did that heavenly flutter when another breeze kicked up. He took her hand and laced her fingers in with his. Taking a moment to examine her soft palm like he'd done last night.

She wore no jewelry other than a vintage style wrist watch, and her fingernails were clean and smooth. She allowed him to gently inspect her hand for as long as he needed to. Her own slim fingers were running over the palm of his hand in a way that he liked, but couldn't ever remember liking before. It felt like a very real moment of intimacy was passing between them. A simple connection of flesh on flesh. More so than even their heated sexual exchanges had been the past few days.

Suddenly, Alex could see their future together. See how easy a life with Norma would be. True they were broken, perhaps permanently scared for life. Yet, they were capable of starting over together. Of creating a home together, a life, a family.

At last he would have a family.

Alex dared not dream too big. It had barely been a week into this new romance with her. He imagined Icarus flying too close to the sun and crashing all because he dared to want something forever out of reach. He looked hopefully at Norma and saw her eyes were the same color blue as last night. That bright and happy color that promised good days ahead.

When she smiled, it was slow and her gaze never broke contact with him.

Graceland started barking furiously and ruined the moment between them.

Alex turned to check on Dylan at the stern of the boat, and saw the child wasn't there.

"You gotta be kidding me." he said darkly and abandoned Norma. The Deputy quickly reaching the edge of the boat and laying down to counter his weight over the edge. With one arm, he pulled Dylan out of the water. The boy had fallen in while the adults were distracted. The life vest he wore keeping him afloat and the dog alerting them to the situation.

"I fell in." Dylan coughed once he was safely back on deck.


	37. Chapter 37

37.

~ "Take him down below deck. Get him out of those wet clothes." Alex ordered as soon as he made sure Dylan wasn't injured. He could feel the cold radiating from the child's body now and knew how dangerous it could be.

"Dylan, didn't I tell you to be careful?" Norma scolded.  
"Norma, get him below deck and out of those wet clothes. Do it now." Alex ordered more severely. She looked up at him in alarm but he ignored her. Instead he brought up the boat's anchor and started the engines.

"Tom keeps dry clothes in the dresser." he called to her when he saw she was rushing Dylan below deck.

He was sure Dylan would be fine, but there was an unpleasant incident last year where a family had been out fishing and a child fell into the bay. The boy had been a little older than Dylan and he wasn't able to shake off the chill after a minor boating accident had caused him to fall into the water without anyone noticing. He hadn't been able to get out of the water very quickly and no one thought to get him out of his wet clothing. The child had succumbed to pneumonia a few weeks after the accident.

The sun was coming up, but it hadn't touched the air with any heat yet. It certainly wouldn't warm up the bay waters. Nothing warmed these waters. When Alex was ten, the Old Bear once had told him and his friends a horrible story about the body of a young woman some fishermen had found in the bay.

"Only God in his heaven knows how long she was down there, boys." The Old Bear had said with an evil smile. "The water is so cold, she was weighted in so deep, hardly any rot at all. No fish ate her up at that depth. Almost perfectly preserved to. Coroner thinks she might have been killed a few years ago. Murder stabbed her to death and wrapped her naked body up in a shower curtain. Weighted it with chains and concrete cinder blocks. Only reason she was even found was because of the drought we've had. Dislodged her."

The story, Alex later found out the grizzly details as a deputy, was true. Every word of it. As a child, it had given him nightmares for years. Worst part was, the killer was never found and the poor girl never identified.

The engines were sound and roared loudly towards the shore where Alex knew there was an ancient dock seldom used by anyone. It was close, private and he could build a fire.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the worn, dilapidated dock come into view. Thankful that it was closer than he thought. The boat was easy to maneuver and he shut the engines off and let her glide into the dock.

The boards were faded and missing in places, but any port in the storm.

Alex quickly cast a rope on a sturdy looking post and brought the red fishing boat into dock perfectly.

He quickly surveyed the area and saw the former summer camp was still abandoned and unused. Almost ten years it had laid forgotten since going bankrupt. It's owners cutting their losses and leaving everything behind. Allowing the bank, and nature to reclaim the property. Where the bank had failed to unload the scenic water front real estate, nature hadn't wasted any time with taking back the bunk houses and other large buildings. They were riddled and over grown with brush and wild greenery.

Alex ducked down below deck where he was relived to see Norma had stripped Dylan out of his wet clothing and put him into one of Tom's old flannel shirts. The child too small for it, but he looked warmer. Norma hard at work drying his hair.

"We're docked. Stay here, I'm going to build a fire for him." he nodded to her.

She looked back at him, her eyes wide and she looked worried.

"He's still really cold, Alex." she called after him.  
"It's okay." he told her calmly. There was no need to panic her. "Just keep rubbing his skin to stimulate the blood flow."

Graceland, no doubt excited by everything gave off a bark at the tree line.

"Graceland!" Alex called to her and the dog growled suspiciously at the mass of greenery before jumping off the boat and onto the dock with her partner.

~ It was a simple matter of collecting fallen branches and twigs for a fire. The sandy shore line near the old summer camp was best and wouldn't be seen by anyone. In less than five minutes, Alex had the fire at a good hight that was well away from the trees.

He threw another branch on the flame before going back on the boat to get Dylan and Norma.

They were still below deck and she'd wrapped him in the blankets from the bed.

"Still cold?" he nodded to the child who's lips were slightly blue.

"No." Dylan lied bravely.

"Well, why don't you come outside? The sun's out and I've got a fire going." he said easily. Now wasn't the time to lecture Dylan about falling into the water or make him feel stupid for doing it. That was the kind of thing the Old Bear would do.

Dylan nodded, but looked cranky.

"Why did mom have to take off all my clothes?" he asked when Alex helped him slip into Tom's old wadding boots so that he could walk outside.

The child took Alex's hand and his little fingers were like ice. Norma followed with a blanket and a dry towel.

"Because your wet clothes would have kept you even colder." Alex told Dylan once they were outside on the weather beaten dock.

"She even made me take off my underwear." Dylan said bitterly and so female ears wouldn't overhear the complaint.

"Your underwear was wet to, son." Alex said in a hushed voice so Norma wouldn't hear. "Trust me, you don't want certain parts to stay cold for too long."

"Dylan, be careful!" Norma said eyeing the missing boards of the dock worriedly.

Dylan nodded and took his steeps slowly in Tom's oversized wadding boots.

"I almost wish I had a camera." Norma sighed. "This is actually adorable."

Alex tried not to laugh, he sensed that Dylan wouldn't want to remember this exact moment in time forever.

~ "What is this place?" Norma asked nervously after she was sure the fire was going to keep Dylan warm enough. She had been impressed that Alex had known what to do in such a situation. She hadn't understood that the water was so dangerous and that there were things other than drowning to be fearful of.

When they had pulled Dylan out of the water, his skin had felt like ice and at first, she thought he could just shake it off. He'd gone swimming before and the water was always cold till you got used to it. It was summer after all and the sun was out.

Alex seemed to know better and had become very sharp with his directions to take Dylan below and to get him out of his wet clothes. Alex's tone was so curt that Norma had no choice but to take him seriously and realized that Dylan might not be able to shake off the cold after all.

As soon as they were below deck and she stripped him naked in the bathroom, tossing his freezing and wet clothes in the bathtub, Dylan started shaking and complained about pins sticking his skin.

Norma heard Alex starting the boat's engines as she dried Dylan off and found him a warm flannel shirt to put on. Her son was still uncomfortable and shivering. His toes and fingers seeming especially painful to move and Norma made him move them to keep the blood circulating.

Her fear escalating when his lips stayed a dull blue color. Alex had told them they were docked and he was going to go build a fire, she thought he was taking them back to town and maybe to a hospital. Dylan still was so cold, but the Deputy didn't seem worried, so maybe they would be alright. She was happy to see the large campfire burning a few yards away from the rickety looking dock. Glad that Alex had enough sense to put Dylan into some comically oversize rubber boots so that he could walk himself to the fire.

After only half an hour as close to the fire as Norma would allow, and with Graceland siting on his lap for added warmth, Dylan looked much better.

Now she finally had a moment to look around and see the odd and creepy atmosphere.

What looked like little houses with pitched roofs were over grown with greenery. The elements had chipped away once brightly painted wooden facades and the entire place looked haunted.

Alex seemed to understand without her asking for more clarification.

"It used to be a summer camp." he said and gently put another branch on the fire. Dylan seemed transfixed by the flames. His eyes hypnotized and he didn't pay the adults much attention.

"Used to be?" Norma asked.  
"It was shut down about ten years ago." Alex said with a shrug.

"Why? What happened?" Norma asked. She could imagine that White Pine Bay would be the perfect place for a summer camp.

"Well," Alex whispered and leaned in a little closer. She leaned in closer to as if to hear to a juicy piece of gossip. "The story goes that one summer, a kid drowned because of staff negligence. After the wrongful death lawsuit was settled out of court, the camp was about to opened up again. A few days before the first campers arrived, some crazy guy wielding a machete wanders into the camp and starts killing all the staff. Horney teenagers mostly."

"Alex." Norma groaned and leaned away from him in disgust.  
"What? It was awful. There was only one survivor, she said he wore a hockey mask while he killed all her friends." Alex said earnestly.

"Alex, that's the plot of Friday the 13th!" Norma laughed.

"Where do you think they got it from?" Alex waved in the direction of the abandoned camp.

"Oh, was the killer coincidently named Micheal Myers?" Norma grinned.

"His **mother** , actually." Alex said teasingly.

"Who's Micheal Myers?" Dylan asked.

"No one, honey." Norma said and felt her son's forehead for signs of a fever. He felt warm, but that might have just been from being so close to the flames.

"Camp just went bankrupt about ten years ago." Alex grinned and stoked the dying flames.

"No one bought it?" Norma nodded to the fallen in buildings left to rot. "Not even the land?"

"Guess not." Alex said. "I remember the old man had to flush some teenagers and vagrants out here a few times. It's so overgrown now, doubt anyone remembers its' even here."

~ "Are you mad at me?" Dylan asked once Alex had shown him how to make sure that a camp fire was properly put out. The two of them kicking dirt over the embers after Alex had explained that water would cause too much smoke.

"Why would I be mad at you?" Alex asked in surprise.

Norma had wandered a little ways away from them, Graceland close beside her, to look at the forgotten campgrounds.

"For falling in the water." Dylan said.

"No." Alex shook his head. "I'm more worried your mom will be mad at me for not watching you."

"Mom's never mad at you." Dylan said matter of factly.  
"Oh?" Alex smiled and shrugged. "Give it time."

"We can't go fishing anymore." Dylan complained.

"Sure we can."

"Mom won't let me."

"Sure she will. I'll talk to her." Alex promised. "Sometimes women are just glad to get the men out of the house for a few hours. She'll let us go fishing again if it means she'll have peace and quite."

Dylan was about to argue when Graceland started barking in a loud, long barks that could only mean danger. The dog was somewhere in the distance but he couldn't pinpoint where.

"Alex!" Norma shouted and Romero held a hand up for Dylan to stay put as Norma appeared out of the thick greenery. She was out of breath from running and she looked scared.

Graceland was still barking and the barking had become more aggressive.

"What happened?" Alex demanded as she raced to him and Dylan.

"Alex!" she panted. "There's a man! There's a strange man… over there!"

"Get him back on the boat. Now." Alex ordered.

Norma, for once, didn't need to be told twice. Whatever she'd seen in the overgrown forgotten campground, had frightened her.

If it had just been the three of them, Alex would have scooped Dylan up and taken them to the boat as one, but Graceland was still out there in the greenery and he couldn't leave her behind. Her barking still ringing out loud enough to stir birds from the trees.

"Alex?" Norma called when they reached the dock.

"Go below deck and lock the hatch door. I'm getting the dog." Alex said.

Norma nodded and he watched them carefully climb on board and go below.

"The one time I decide to leave the gun at home." he grumbled to himself before walking towards the campgrounds.

"Graceland!" Alex called and whistled for his partner to come. He hard her barking stop in recognition and then start again. She was close and wasn't moving.

' _Probably some poor homeless guy._ ' Alex thought as he carefully walked past the weathered canoe shack. ' _Probably more afraid of Norma and the dog than they were of him.'_

The old bunk houses were in reasonably good shape and covered with graffiti. Band names and wanna be gang signs and backwards nazi symbols. Typical teenage crap.

Alex saw Graceland and whistled for her to come when a beer bottle when hurtling close to the dog's head, almost hitting her.

Graceland barked savagely and almost charged, but Alex shouted at her to stay.

"Hold!" he commanded and rounded to the end of the bunk house expecting to see some terrified and harmless vagrant who wasn't used to having his home disturbed by the savage dogs of the world.

"Fucking bitch dog!" Keith Summers snarled and threw another beer bottle at Graceland who lazily dodged it.

"Keith?" Alex nodded once the surprise at seeing him had worn off.

Keith Summers, like his sister Maggie, had always been a little worn down in the way of looks. Yet, Maggie had managed to look respectable which distinguished herself from her brother. Keith, squatting here in the abandoned campgrounds in dirty clothes, unshaved face and clearly hung over, reminded Alex of just how different the two siblings were. How time had altered things since they were children and were all friends.

"What are you doing here, Alex?" Keith demanded.

Alex let out a frustrated sigh and tried not to let his anger get the best of him. Tired not to let his thoughts linger on what Maggie had said Keith and Jimmy had threatened to do to Norma.

"You've been living here, Keith?" Alex asked.  
"Girlfriend, kicked me out." Keith sighed. He was sitting in the tall grass and started to paw over a shopping bag for whatever was inside.

"You're trespassing." Alex reminded him. "You know you're not allowed to be here."

"Saw that sweet piece of ass Norma Bates a second ago." Keith said when he pulled out a beer from the shopping bag and opened it. "Wouldn't mind bending her over the table and teaching her a lesson. Something tells me she wouldn't mind."

Alex felt a ripple of nausea rise in him.

"Graceland, come on." he said to the waiting dog. He turned to go when Keith felt the need to make things worse.

"She'd probably like it." Keith said standing up slowly. "Maybe I'll just pay her a little visit when you're done with her. Seeing as how she goes through men so quickly."

Alex stayed calm. So calm that Graceland didn't become agitated or concerned. He turned to Keith Summers, his childhood friend. The childhood friend who he'd played with at this very camp. A lifetime ago.

"Keith, stay away from my family." Alex said with the stoic indifference he'd always used when on the job. "There's lots of places around here to hide a body. I promise no one will look very hard for you either."

Keith Summers looked ready to laugh. That lazy, good for nothing grin appeared on his face.

"Tell me, Alex." he said. "When you're humping on Norma Bates, she ever call out for Zac Shelby?"

~ Norma was waiting for Alex to come back when she heard the engines start up and felt the boat pull away from the dock.

"Stay here." she told Dylan.

Maybe she had over reacted to the homeless man she had spotted sleeping beside one of the old buildings. He was pretty rough looking, but she knew better than anyone what it was like living rough and shouldn't have judged.

She was embarrassed to say that the old abandoned summer camp had spooked her. Alex's referring it to the stupid horror movie hadn't helped. Either way, seeing that strange man and having the dog bark as if they were in trouble, had scared her enough to go running.

She unlocked the hold's door and saw the Alex was at the helm. Steering them away from the shore and towards the familiar sight of the village.

"Alex?" she asked.

"Just some homeless guy." he said. He didn't look at her but Graceland went up to her and nuzzled her hand affectionally. Her tail wagging eagerly.

"What happened?" she asked. He didn't answer still didn't look at her.

"Alex?" she asked again. It was odd that he was ignoring her.

"He was just some vagrant, Norma." he said wearily. "I'll report it when I go in tomorrow."

"Okay." she said feeling awkward.

"We should go pick up Norman. It's been along day." he said.

 **Oh no! What did Alex do? Oh dear!**

 **I was asked in a review or message if Norma was going to meet Rebecca or some other woman in Alex's life and get jealous. Yes. Yes, she is. But we all know there is nothing to be jealous of.**


	38. Chapter 38

38.

~ Tess had Norman in the chicken coop helping her collect eggs when his mother came to get him. Her youngest was enchanted by the birds who weren't afraid of him and even allowed him to gently pet their feathers.

"Hope he wasn't too much trouble." Norma said when Norman gently gave her a brown farm egg. "He's not used to being in a strange place without me."

"He was no trouble at all." Tess smiled. "He helped me pick tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden. Fed the chickens and now we're getting the eggs."

Norma looked at her youngest in surprise at all he'd done that morning.

"Well, you were busy." she said to Norman. "Sounds like you had a better morning than your brother."

"What happened?" Tess asked.

"Oh, he's fine now, but Dylan fell in the bay." Norma sighed.

"Oh no!" Tess said in alarm.

"He's okay. Alex knew what to do. We got him out of the wet clothes and everything. Alex took us to shore and built a fire and everything." Norma said feeling herself blushing slightly.

"That sounds very romantic." Tess prompted.

"It actually was." Norma agreed with a smile. "We were at the old summer camp and had to leave. Some homeless guy was living there."

"They need to just tear that place down." Tess sighed. "Getting to be a problem."

"Thank you for looking after him." Norma nodded to her son who was carefully examining the eggs in the basket.

"He's a little doll. Every mother's dream." Tess said affectionally running her fingers through Norman's hair.

~ Alex and Dylan were waiting for them when Norma returned to the truck with Norman.

"You didn't want to talk to Tom?" she asked.

"I was thinking I might just drop you and the boys off at the house. I've got some errands I need to run." he told her once Norman was safely buckled in next to Dylan.

"You don't want to stay for lunch?" she questioned in surprise.

"I'll come by for dinner." Alex quickly said pulling out of the farm's driveway.

~ "Turkey pot pie." Norma smiled when Norman asked what she was making for dinner. She'd found the recipe in a magazine and had been meaning to try it out on the boys and Alex. It was the kind of comfort food the male gender would like.

Dylan had been so tired he needed a nap as soon as they got home. Norma putting his still damp clothes in the washer. Norman seemed very pleased to have his mother all to himself for the day. He normally had to share her attention with a demanding older brother and often his needs were ignored because he was the quite child.

"Want to help me wash vegetables?" Norma asked her youngest. Norman nodded and she showed him how to hold the colander and rinse off the fresh vegetables Tess had given her from her garden.

"Did you have fun playing with the chickens at Sheriff Wilson's farm, honey?" Norma asked. She was amused at seeing the little boy on the step stool so that he could reach the sink.

"I don't like it when you leave me." Norman said.  
"It was just for the morning." Norma said quickly. "I would have been back you know that."

Norman looked skeptical.

"I was scared." he said.

"Honey, you know I'd never leave you." she said earnestly. "Not ever."

"Promise?" Norman asked.

"I promise." Norma nodded and kissed him on the cheek.

~ It was almost sunset when Alex finally came back. Norma was playing the piano when Dylan noticed Alex's truck had pulled up and silently let him in. He knew that she played, played well in fact, but he had no idea that she could sing well to.

Her back was turned away from the front door and she hadn't noticed that it wasn't just her and the boys anymore in the house.

"Just think of lovely things, and your heart will fly on wings. Never, Neverland." she sang. Her voice was lovely and clearly she'd had professional voice coaching.

He put a finger up over his lip to signal Dylan and Norman to be silent so that Norman wouldn't suspect he was there. The boys had been coloring on the coffee table and something smelled wonderful from the kitchen.

"You'll have a treasure if you stay there. More precious far that gold. For once you have found your way there, you can never, never grow old." Norma sang with heartbreaking enthusiasm for the complexities and conundrum of eternal youth. The piano sounded richer and grander under Norma's hands than he ever remembered it sounding before. She was capable of maneuvering her fingers fluidly over the keys with impressive ease. It was as if playing was natural to her as anything.

Alex realized that he could have this. Every evening, he could come home to this very Rockwell scene of Norma playing piano. Of the boys playing quietly and dinner cooking. Everything prepared for him. Everything waiting. A place for him at the table always. A wife, a family and a home ready made.

Norma stopped playing when she felt his eyes on her. She nervously turned around and saw him standing behind her. A large smile on his face.

"Oh scared me." she said. "How long have you been standing there?"

"I just came in. Heard you playing and didn't want you to stop." he said.  
"Sorry you had to hear me butcher that song." Norma apologized when Alex maneuvered on the piano beach next to her. "It's been in my head since we came home."

"It was nice." Alex said. Norma automatically gave him her hand. Sensing that he enjoyed the simple contact. Just feeling her soft fingers and palm was relaxing to him. He couldn't explain why.

"I'm trying out a new recipe. I think you'll like it." she said after few moments of silence.

"Smells great." he nodded to the kitchen.

"Where were you all day?" she asked. "It's been ten hours."

"Just had to take care of things." he said without looking at her.

"Mom I'm hungry!" Dylan said suddenly. "Can we eat now?"

"Yeah." Norman agreed.

"I'm starving." Alex said eagerly.

Norma looked slightly annoyed to be over ruled by the men in her life.

"Okay, guys." she said with an eye roll. "Go wash up."

~ "Thank you for taking care of Dylan today." Norma said as they washed dishes together. It was becoming their normal habit now to do the clean up while the boys go themselves ready for bed.

Alex found these little domestic chores to be very soothing and almost therapeutic.

"You're welcome." he said as she put the leftovers in the fridge.

He nodded to how few leftovers there actually were.

"Dinner was nice tonight." he noted.

"Thank you." she smiled. "Norman seemed to like it. "See how he didn't play with his food or anything like that? Maybe because it was the fresh vegetables from Tess' garden."

"Farm fresh is always better. I know that's how it was when I was little." Alex yawned suddenly.

"Tired?" she asked sympathetically.

"We might have to skip a night." he grumbled.

"Yeah, promises, Deputy." she laughed.

"I'm serious this time, Mrs. Bates." he sighed. "Feeling pretty wiped out."

"Why don't you go to bed, and I'll be in soon." she offered and kissed his cheek.

"Okay." he nodded.

Alex gratefully rested a hand on her lower back before leaving her to do what was left of cleaning up and putting the boys to bed. Not since his military days had he every remembered being so exhausted. It hadn't helped that today had been so busy. That it had started so early and become so physically demanding.

He didn't even wake up when Norma had come to bed an hour or so later. She'd been careful not to wake him up knowing he had to go to work in the morning.

He only remembered dreaming that he was a kid again. The he, Keith and Maggie Summers, Jimmy Brennan and Bobby Paris were all friends again. Long summers just like today when they would play endlessly in the forests. When time and the cruel nature of life hadn't twisted the innocent nature of youth.

"Alex?" Norma's voice was pulling him out of a world that was overgrown in greenery. Summer camp cabins that were haunting and unloved. Places not even ghosts would live.

"Alex?" Norma's voice was more insistent.

He felt panicked and afraid. He had to do something. Had to protect her.

"Alex, wake up. You're having a nightmare." Norma said and he could feel her hands, suddenly very strong, rip him out of the lush summer days of his childhood. Out of a world of an adult Keith Summers treating the woman he loved, his family and back into the real world.

He woke up and almost pushed Norma off him. His breathing coming hard.

"It's okay." she said quickly. "Alex you were having a bad dream."

He looked around their bedroom and saw everything was as it should be. Nothing was wrong and they were safe.

"Oh." he breathed and realized he'd been sweating heavily from the intensity of his dream.

"You're okay." she whispered and helped him lay back down.

"Sorry." he said and could feel the dream world already slipping away.  
"Who's Keith?" Norma asked.

"What?"

"You kept saying the name Keith. Telling Keith to get away from her. That you were going to kill him." Norma whispered in the darkness next to him.

Alex didn't respond. He shook his head and felt that his breathing was still shaky.

"Just a bad dream, Norma." he explained. "I'm sorry, just try to go back to sleep."

"Okay." she said reluctantly. "You know you have to be up in an hour."

He groaned in annoyance that he wouldn't have time now to go back to sleep before he would have to be up for work anyway. He would have been more annoyed had Norma not wrapped her leg around his and slowly ran it upwards.

"You're not tired?" he asked with a grin realizing what she was after when her hand started moving up his shirt.

He didn't protest her attention. The effects of the morning on the male anatomy easily helped with feeling aroused.

"Are you?" she asked seductively.

"Not too tired for this." he promised when he felt her bare leg run up his.

"The chair under the door?" he whispered when his lips met hers.

"I put it there myself." she promised. Her kisses coming easily now and his body happy to respond to such a pleasant wake up call. Her hands even doing the service of stroking his member gently as he fumbled over her night dress. His own hands eager to rid her of clothing and have her naked with him again.

"Just thinking about you building that fire yesterday." she whispered between their kiss. "It was pretty sexy. Didn't know you were such an outdoorsman."

"I'll have to start fires more often." he promised. His delight in his lover growing as she straddled his waist and stripped off her night dress. Revealing her glorious naked body for him to ravage in the early light of dawn.

~ It had been a blissful two weeks for Alex since he and Norma were together. They still kept their relationship as quite as they could, but he was sure the gossip mill was already circulating.

Nothing stayed buried in White Pine Bay for long.

Alex felt a little guilty that he couldn't take Norma out like they were a real couple. A couple who went to a movie and to dinners out. Uncaring about what other people thought.

He'd asked Norma if she wanted to go to dinner and a show in Portland. The city was large and far enough away they could be unseen by anyone from back home.

Norma didn't have an interest in leaving the boys with Tess for an extended period of time. Even with the promise of a romantic evening in the city. Alex was slightly grateful she was homebody. That she would enjoy something like that soon, but for now preferred to stay at home were everything was cozy.

He had to admit, it was everything he could want in a home. It was always warm and smelled of clean laundry or cooking. Things were always tidy and Norma wan't the type to leave domestic chores undone. Her limitless energy meant she could do countless things everyday and never seem tired.

Alex often wondered why his own mother had been so different. Why his mother had seemed so, _exhausted_ all the time. He understood now that depression was part of it. That being married to the Old Bear wasn't easy. Yet, she seemed so defeated somehow. She wasn't a fighter like Norma was. She wasn't a tiger.

"Deputy." Tom Wilson broke into Alex's thoughts and pulled him from deep memories of how his mother used to cut herself in the bathroom. How she had been bleeding all over herself when he'd come home from school and begged her eight year old son not to tell anyone.

"Yeah." Alex sat up a little straiter in his desk and tried to look more focused.

"A word in my office." Tom nodded.

~ "Heard there was an incident last weekend." Tom said taking a seat at his desk as Alex sat across from him.

"Oh, it wasn't too bad." Alex shrugged. "Dylan fell in the bay. We got him out and into some dry clothes."

"Yeah Tess told me about that." Tom nodded. "Norma mentioned something about you building a fire down by the old summer camp."

"I know it's against the law." Alex nodded. He knew exactly where Tom was going but wasn't going to give him any lead.

"Not what I'm getting at." Tom said sharply. "Norma mentioned a homeless man was staying at one of the old cabins? She said he frightened her. You never reported it."

"I meant to." Alex said. "I guess I forgot."

"Did you recognize the man?" Tom asked.

Alex could hear alarms going off in his head. Warning sounds to be careful. Tom Wilson was his friend but Alex always suspected that he never trusted him. Not really.

"Didn't get that good of a look at him. Was trying to keep the dog back." Alex explained.

"Did you know who he was?" Tom asked.  
"I don't think so." Alex said carefully. "I mean, he was pretty rough looking. Living out there and all."

Tom looked at Alex and neither man flinched. Romero had learned long ago, from the Old Bear in fact, never explain anything to anyone. That when you have to explain yourself, that's how you explain yourself right into a jail cell.

"And you didn't report it." Tom said again.  
"He seemed pretty harmless." Alex said easily.  
"Norma was scared."

"I think he spooked her is all. It's pretty scary out there."

Alex waited for Tom and Tom waited for Alex. It was a staring contest and both men were in it to win.

"Why do you ask, Tom?" Alex said at last when the Sheriff failed to elaborate.

"Keith Summers has gone missing. You know anything about that, Alex?" Tom asked casually.

Alex pretended to be shocked.

"I wasn't aware he was missing. No." he said. "Maggie call it in?"

"No. The owner of the bar he frequents did." Seems he hasn't been around for a week now and that is very unusual seeing as how they let him do the clean up for a six pack and some dinner."

"We should call Maggie." Alex said. "She might know. She might have checked him into a rehab hopefully."

"I already called Maggie Summers. She hasn't seen her brother since his arrest. She did tell me that he sometimes stays at the old summer camp grounds when he's got nowhere else to go." Tom told him. The Sheriff looking over Romero with cold eyes now.

"It wasn't Keith Summers I saw last week, Tom." Alex lied without hesitation.

"You're sure?" Wilson asked.

"I'm sure."

"I remember you told me about the threats he made against Norma. That might make a man want to do something." Tom said.

"I didn't do anything to Keith Summers." Alex said.  
"If I bring Norma Bates in here and have her look through mug shots, she'll back up your claim that it wasn't Keith at the old camp?" Tom asked.

"I'm sure Keith will turn up." Alex sighed. "If you feel the need to bring Norma into this, than you can. Just please be sensitive, Tom. Everything she's been through. She doesn't need to think some poor vagrant is out to kill her."

 **My bad! It was Jason Voorhies who killed all the horney teens at Camp Crystal Lake in "Friday the 13th". Michael Myers killed all the horney teens on "Halloween". Got my psychopaths mixed up!**


	39. Chapter 39

39.

~ "Do any of these men look familiar, Mrs. Bates?" Wilson asked.

Norma leaned in closer to examine each mug shot carefully. She hadn't missed the fact that Tom had called her Mrs. Bates, but has assumed it was because she was called her in on official business for the Sheriff's department.

No doubt Alex had made a report about the homeless man living out at the old summer camp and Wilson, ever studious about the welfare of people, had asked her to ID the man.

"Honestly, Tom I didn't get a very good look." she said. All the faces were looking the same to her now and she felt silly now for being afraid in the first place.

"What about this guy?" Wilson said and presented a larger mug shot of a heavy set, unkempt man with blood shot eyes.

"Have you ever met him before?" the Sheriff asked.

Norma looked over the mug shot and shrugged.

"I don't think so." she said honestly. "I mean… I meet a lot of people when I make deliveries with Hilary. Sometimes it's hard to keep track. I don't want to say I didn't meet him. I just don't remember him if I did."

"It's okay." Tom said with an easy smile. "His name is Keith Summers and he's the type that you'd remember if you did meet him."

"Why are you asking me about him?" Norma asked.

"Because his sister reported missing and he's been known to sometimes stay at the old summer camp." Wilson said calmly.

"Oh." Norma breathed. She knew felt a coldness enter her and couldn't explain why.

"Norma, are you sure you can't identify the man you saw last week?" Wilson asked.

Norma's mind was back to that sunny Sunday. To a forgotten summer camp overgrown with green summer forrest leaves. To a rustle near a cabin and an angry man growling at her to come closer. Calling her by name. To hard, beady eyes like the man in the picture. To the fact Alex had been gone for hours after he'd taken then home. What had he been doing all that time?

"Norma?" Tom asked hopefully.

"I'm sure." Norma nodded. "He didn't say anything, and I ran away from him too fast." she shrugged.

~ Alex was waiting outside in the hallway for Tom to finish questioning Norma. He knew that the chances of Norma identifying Keith Summers from his mug shots were slim. Even if the pictures were recent, living rough in the outdoors and drinking all day and night had made Keith so unrecognizable even Alex had to look closer that day.

It had pained him to see Washington bring Norma in and know he couldn't let her see him or talk to her. Explain that it was nothing to worry about. Judging by the look of annoyance on Tom's face when the exited the interrogation room, Norma hadn't been much help.

"Sorry, Tom. I hope you find him. I see his sister at the grocery store all the time. She's so nice. Always asks how the boys are." Norma said.

"I'm sure he'll turn up. Bad pennies always do." Wilson said and nodded to Romero.

Alex locked eyes with Norma and they exchanged the information that both of them were hiding something from Tom. She stepped away from the Sheriff and went to stand beside Romero.

"Are there anymore questions for us, Sheriff?" Alex asked.  
"No, Deputy." Wilson said with a terse smile. "You understand that I had to ask."

"We understand." Alex said. "Would you mind if I took the rest of the day off? Personal day?"

"I believe you have a lot of personal days you've never used, Deputy." Wilson said. "I'd like it if you could talk to Maggie Summers at some point. Since you two grew up together, she might be willing to share with you more information about where her brother might be."

"Sure." Alex nodded and waited for Wilson to walk away from them before nodding to Norma.

"I'll take you home.

"Alex, what-"

"Don't say anything." he said quickly. His voice hushed as they walked quickly out the back entrance of the Sheriff's station and towards the parking lot. He unlocked his SUV remotely and nodded for Norma to get in.

"Stay here, I'm going to go get Graceland and then I thought we'd go somewhere." he said.

"Back to your place?" she asked with a raise eyebrow.

He didn't want to, today had been too serious, but he felt a little grin started to tug across his mouth. Norma could always make him smile.

"Actually I was thinking it was finally time you met my granddad." he said.

~ "So, who's Keith Summers and why did we have to leave out the back?" Norma asked as soon as Alex came back with the dog she was learning to like and they were safely out of sight of the Sheriff's station.

"I grew up with Keith and Maggie Summers." Alex said uncomfortably. "Their Family owned the Sea Fearer Motel by the highway. Along with that big house behind it."

"The Queen Anne?" Norma said excitedly. She'd remembered seeing it a few times and loving the beauty of it despite it's desperate need for repairs. All it needed was a little work to make it beautiful again. If she had the money, she would love to buy an old house like that and fix it up.

Alex glanced at her and she refused to contain her excitement.

"I love old houses." she explained without apology. "It's awful that no one's done anything with that house. Why doesn't anyone live there? Fix it up?"

"Keith and Maggie…" Alex said with difficulty. "Family had a lot of problems. Lost it to the bank a while back. Bank wasn't able to unload it because the motel has a bad reputation. Not to mention the house."

"What kind of reputation could a house have?" Norma asked curiously. They had left town and were on a long winding road that could only take them to the old folks home.

"It's not important." Alex said. "Tom was concerned that the man we saw Sunday was Keith Summers and just wanted to make sure."

"I didn't get a good look." Norma said. "I told him that."

"Good." Alex said.

"Did you know him?" Norma asked. "The homeless man?"

"No." Alex said defensively. "Why would I?"

"Why did we have to leave out the back of the Sheriff's station?" Norma asked. Her hands smoothing out her skirt.

"We're still supposed to be discreet." Alex told her.

~ Alex didn't seem too concerned about discretion when he guided Norma into the apartment styled living quarters that belonged to the elderly here.

She'd been here a few times and found that this place not at all depressing. It smelled nice, was well maintained and it's seniors were active and social. Yet it was the only nursing home in town. Perhaps people in this town just didn't suffer from poor health or weren't allowed to grown old.

"Hi, Deputy Romero." A pretty nurse said to Alex when they walked past a check in station and Alex signed in.

The pretty nurse didn't glance at Norma.

"Hi, Jenny." Alex said.  
"Come to see Simon?" Jenny, the pretty nurse, asked. "You usually only come on Sunday."

"Thought I might bring a friend today." Alex said. "He's in his room right?"

"He goes for his morning walk, but he should be back by now." the pretty nurse said. Still refusing to acknowledge Norma.

"Thanks." Alex said.

Graceland followed them down the hall to what must be very tiny apartments. Each individually decorated with door wreaths and even the occasional garden gnome or angel out front.

When they arrived at a door that had nothing but a welcome mat that said "Go Away", Norma knew they were in the right place. Alex knocked and waited for the loud profanities to stop from inside before announcing himself.

"Granddad, it's Alex. I brought, Norma Bates."

"Oh! Come in!" the voice from inside shouted in delight and Alex opened the door to reveal a tiny efficacy apartment that was perfectly suitable for one person.

She waited for Alex to close the door behind them. Graceland, having no doubt visited before, made herself comfortable on one of the free chairs and looked at the humans in amusement.

Alex's grandfather, whom she knew only from second hand gossip, was of average height and had virtually no wrinkles on his face. He had all his hair and it had a lovely silver shine to it. His clothing was neatly ironed and it was clear he cared how he dressed. A trait from his generation that she admired and wasn't found in today's men. She recognized him from when she'd delivered catering here with Hilary. Simon had always made a point to come and talk to her. She hadn't realized at the time he was Alex's grandfather and thought he was just a charming old man.

"Well." Simon said with his eye brighting happily. "Norma Bates."

"Norma, this is Simon Romero. My Grandfather." Alex explained.

"I'm very pleased to meet you." Norma said before Simon swooped in to take her hand and apply a kiss to it that erased any wonder where Alex had gotten his charms from.  
"Oh, you have no idea how pleased I am to meet you." Simon said with a merriment dancing in his brown eyes.

Norma glanced nervously at Alex who only shrugged when Simon guided her to sit next to him at the dinning room table.

"Now, Norma, tell me everything about you." he said eagerly.

"Granddad." Alex said. "Don't interrogate her."

"Women like to talk about themselves." Simon said. "If you learn to listen you can learn a lot, young man."

Norma pressed her lips together as Alex glared mutinously at his Grandfather.

"Now, darling." Simon said eagerly. "Tell me all about Norma Bates."

"Oh." Norma laughed nervously. She hadn't prepared herself for this. Alex had never really asked too much about her past. He'd always sensed where the edges were and respected them. Never pushing her into territory she wasn't ready to go to.

"Well." Norma said at last. "I… I was born in Florida. My parents… um… they… my mother was… she was a baker."

She didn't know why she lied like that. Why she committed to such a stupid irrational lie that could be checked and disproved. Her mother had never baked in her life and she had just told Alex how her parents had left her and Caleb alone for weeks in a tar paper shake in Kansas. Only coming back in the middle of the night to pack them all up and dive all night to another state. Fleeing something as usual.

Just now, sitting in front of this apple cheeked old man, she couldn't do anything but lie. She had to tell a rosy story that would make her seem suitable enough to be with Alex.

Oddly enough, it was with Alex, she could tell the truth about her parents.

"She always smelled like cookies." Norma smiled uncomfortably. "My dad, he used to build things. Houses."

That wasn't so much of a lie. She knew her father had carpentry skills. That when he was sober he did have to occasional job building homes. That he made repairs to whatever place they were living in. That he had taught Caleb the skill as well.

"Wonderful." Simon nodded and clapped his hands. Norma felt relieved that this gentleman approved. "Baker and a builder. Do you have any other family? Besides the boys?"

"No." Norma shook her head quickly. "My parents died when I was a teenager." she said without thinking again.

"Oh?" Simon asked and Alex looked surprised as well.

Norma wished she hadn't said anything. Once the words were out, she couldn't take them back.

"Oh, it's okay. Um… car accident." she said quickly and smiled her bright, fake smile.

"I"m sorry, darling." Simon said sincerely. "That's terrible."

"It's okay." Norma said brightly.

"So you're all alone. You and the boys." Simon took her hand with affection and looked at her in a way only Alex looked at her.

Norma felt uncomfortable with how Simon was gazing at her and slipped her had away. Clearly the older man was the sort who had a great liking towards women and wasn't at all afraid to show it.

"Granddad, I think you've asked Norma enough questions." Alex interjected. "I didn't bring her here to get the third degree."

"You're absolutely right!" Simon said with enthusiasm. "You know that you're the first lady friend that Alex has brought to meet me?"

Norma glanced at Alex who averted his eyes in annoyance.

"I think the last time I met any of his little friends, female or otherwise, was when he was in grade school. Alex was never too sociable." Simon whispered the last part to Norma as if his grandson couldn't hear.

"Granddad." Alex scolded.

"I'm just happy that he's finally coming out of his shell a little. He was always closed off. Even as a little boy he never smiled. Since he met you, I've see a change in him and it's all for the better." Simon told her.

Norma looked at Alex again who seemed annoyed, but not with her.

"That's very nice of you to say." she said feeling her cheeks warm up.

~ "I like your grandfather." Norma said shyly as Alex unlocked his rented house. He had to get a few things if he was going to be spending the night with Norma from now on.

"I'm glad." Alex said honestly. "So few people do."

"He's very honest." Norma agreed following Alex inside the dark and still disorganized bachelor pad.

"Yeah, he always has been." Alex grinned and pulled a duffel bag from the hall closet. "My family has lived here for a long time. It's not always easy when people have known you your whole life. Known your parents, grandparents." he looked slightly overwhelmed at the idea. "Great grandparents."

"Wow." Norma said feeling impressed at the idea that Alex had roots that went that far down. She thought it was comforting to know you belonged somewhere. To know where you came from, to know your history and feel secure that others knew it to. That your identity wasn't something as fragile as ash. Something that could blow away with the wind.

"I lied." Norma said suddenly. She had stepped closer to Alex's dresser. Her hand running over the edges of the cheap big box furniture.

Alex paused but didn't say anything. He face darkening with concern.

"You lied to Wilson?" he asked at last.

"No." she said. "No. I lied to your grandfather. About my family."

"Oh." Alex said.  
Norma shrugged.  
"I don't know why." she said. "He started asking and… I didn't have any good answers."

She shrugged and looked sadly at him.

"He shouldn't have asked you so many questions about your family like that." Alex said. "Different generation."

"I know." Norma nodded. "My family." she shook her head. "I just didn't want Simon to think I wasn't good enough for you."

"Norman, I decide who is good enough for me. No one else." Alex said and dropped the duffel bag on his bed. He came to stand beside her and rested a hand on the small of her back.

"Anyway, who's to say I'm not good enough for you?" he pointed out.

Norma smiled and felt slightly relieved at the idea that Alex didn't care to pry into her past like Simon had.

Alex pulled open the top drawer of his dresser and started collecting fresh socks to take to her house when Norma noticed something pink among the collection of masculine gym and dress socks. She picked up the frilly pink socks that most certainly didn't belong to Alex and showed them to him after he turned from packing.

His face fell but he refused to look guilty.

"It's been over for a while. It was over long before we were together, Norma." he said without apology.

She nodded. Of course he'd had other women in his life before her. He may have been cold and distant, but some women liked that. Alex Romero surely entertained female company here on occasion before they met and became a couple.

"Okay." she said and quickly stashed the pink socks back in the top drawer.

"They were left here." he said. "I wasn't holding onto them as a some kind of cherished memory or anything."

"I know." Norma breathed and felt silly for even being jealous of some phantom creature that clearly didn't exist in Alex's life anymore. Hadn't he spent every night with her? Hadn't he committed himself to her life? To making himself apart of her life? Of her children's lives? Even to the point where he introduced her to his grandfather today? A feet no other woman had accomplished?

"I know." she nodded again and put on her fake smile.


	40. Chapter 40

40.

~ "Simon married your grandmother just to get her away from an abusive father?" Norma asked. It was early morning and the sun hadn't even risen yet. They had gotten into the habit of waking up a couple of hours before the alarm went off, which had given them plenty of time to indulge in adult pleasures without fear of interruption. Norman and Dylan were not early risers and there was no risk in being overheard now.

"Yeah." Alex admitted shyly. "She was a little too young, but I think he just wanted to help her. I don't think they were madly in love or anything. At least not right away. It was more of a friendship that… I guess changed. They had been married for a while before my dad was born."

"That's so romantic." Norma breathed happily.

Alex rolled his eyes.

"You don't think so?" Norma giggled.

"Well, it's a big commitment. Marriage" he told her. "I mean, a favor is one thing."

"Back then there weren't a lot of ways for a girl to get away from a bad situation." Norma told him.

She rolled over on her back and felt Alex's palm exploring the smooth flesh of her belly. She thought about her own teen years. How desperate she was to get away from the chaos of her family that she'd lied to her boyfriend about Dylan being his child so they could get married and she could be free.

It was a decision that had liberated her from her parents, but hadn't ended well. Certainly not the storybook ending Alex's grandmother had. A hasty marriage of convenience as a teenager to a charming man who just happened to be kind and faithful to her. The two of them, eventually, falling in love and building a life together.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked. His hand had wandered up to her breast and his lips were nuzzling her ear. Norma was million miles away.

"Oh." Norma sighed. Realizing that her lover was trying to coax her back to him. "I was just thinking."

"About what?" Alex teased playfully. His hand moving away from her breast, down her waist and resting on her hip. He'd already had some morning satisfaction, yet he seemed eager for more.

"Things." she said with a sad far away voice and refused to say anymore about it.

~ The search for Keith Summers persisted, but went cold very quickly. Maggie Summers offered no further help or reward if he was found. Keith had lost his license a year ago after a DWI charge and there wasn't even the lead of his truck's last location to go on.

Keith had no employment or friends he saw regularly. He kept no reliable schedule and as for enemies, it was easier to make a list of people in town who he didn't owe money to or have a grudge against.

"Deputy, I want you to talk to Maggie Summers again." Tom ordered. "She must know something."

"Sheriff, it's possible Keith Summers just skipped town." Alex reminded him for the third time that week. "It's not the first time we've had a bail jumper."

"You don't think it's strange that Maggie didn't put up a reward?" Tom asked. "It's her brother after all. Her only family."

"She works as a checker at the grocery store and lives in a one bedroom rental on Wilkie Street." Alex told him. "I don't think she had anything to offer as far as a reward."

Wilson looked frustrated but didn't want to say anything when Deputy White walked up to them. His normally carefree, indifferent face looked a little frightened.

"Romero." White said to Alex. "There's an FBI agent here to see you."

He nodded to the back where Alex's desk was.

"A female agent. Says her name is Agent Evens. That she spoke with you over the phone a while ago. That you would know what it was about." White said.

Alex took a moment to enjoy the look of shock passing between Deputy White and the Sheriff.

"Something going on Alex?" Wilson asked when Romero failed to elaborate.

"Thank you, White." Romero said and refused to comment about the mysterious FBI agent that had descended on White Pine Bay.

~ Not since the horrors of the DEA raid had there been so many looks at a federal agent. Alex knew the whispered comments and judges that this agent, this agent Evens of the San Fransisco field office, would no doubt start the rumor mill that he was working with the feds again.

That it would further the myth that he'd been the one who sold the Old Bear and his crooked men out to the DEA in the first place.

He saw the agent sitting at his desk. White hadn't mentioned how pretty she was. How she was tall and strikingly slender with shiny dark hair and large brown eyes. How her physical appearance looked more like a goddess than any mortal woman.

Alex paid no mind to this however because Agent Charlotte Evens of the FBI was messing with his computer and Graceland was snoozing uselessly on her bed.

"Agent Evens?" Romero asked coldly. He was aware that all eyes in the office were on the two of them and it would be unprofessional to address the federal agent as anything but her title just now.

"You know you haven't even installed your windows 98, Alex." Charlotte said casually. "Don't tell me they make you type out all your reports on a manual still."

"It's a pre-printed form." Alex explained. "You have to… roll it down." he mimicked rolling down paper on a manual typewriter.

Charlotte leaned back in his chair and looked at him appraisingly.

"Hello, handsome." she said at last with a kind smile. "I'm glad you called me."

"I wasn't expecting you to come all the way up here to Oregon." Alex said and looked at the useless police dog that hadn't even growled at the intruder.

Since Norma had been feeding her fried eggs, bacon and the occasional shredded chicken every day, Graceland had put on a little weight and had become decidedly uninterested in attacking or growling at anyone. At least anyone who wasn't an immediate threat to the nice lady who fed her, or the little humans the nice lady seemed to like. If any harm came their way, Graceland sprang to action. Fear of losing such a lucrative meal ticket would be met with force.

Alex would have to talk to Norma about over feeding the dog. Since Graceland had alerted them to Dylan falling into the Bay, Norma had warmed up to her very quickly. Allowing her to sleep with the boys every night and over feeding her every morning so that Graceland never touched her dry dog food.

"It was the least I could do for my old friend." Charlotte said.

She nodded to the eyes that were watching them from a distance. Wilson not even pretending to be discreet.

"What's the point of having a badge if I can't flash it?" she shrugged without remorse.

"If you got it, baby." Alex grinned but quickly hide that smile for fear Wilson might see.

"I've got that information you asked for." Charlotte said and held up a hefty folder. "I would have emailed it to you but since you don't even update your computer."

"All of it?" Alex asked taking the heavy stack from her.  
"Alex?" Charlotte said carefully and stood up. He didn't open the folder which she had bound together tightly with rubber bands. The tone of her voice said to stop and listen to her.

Charlotte's face was serious.

"Are you sure you want to know everything about your girlfriend's past? I mean…" she shook her head. "If she wanted you to know she would tell you. Maybe sometimes we're better off not knowing the whole truth."

Alex clutched the thick folder with Norma Louise Calhoun stamped on the edge tightly.

"I've been with her for over three weeks now, Chuck." he said. "I've known her and her kids since early spring. Four months now. I'm practically living with her. It still feels like I'm with a stranger sometimes."

"Fine." Charlotte sighed. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Alex looked back at all the eyes that were still observing them. Wilson included.

"Maybe we should go somewhere more private." he said.  
"You want me to make a big scene?" Charlotte asked with a sly grin that showed a dazzling smile. "Demand to know where you've hidden the hydrogen bombs? Maybe smack you around a little?"

"Chuck, you work in sex crimes." Alex raised his eyebrows up in surprise.

"They don't know that." Charlotte said playfully.

"No." Alex shook his head. "Just… be normal. I know it's hard for you, but just try to be normal when we leave."

"Okay, I'll try." Charlotte sighed in defeat.

They were walking out of the Sheriff's station when Charlotte, having done an admirable job so far, couldn't hold back any longer.

"You're only making things harder on yourself, Deputy Romero." she said in a cold professional voice as she stalked past Sheriff Wilson.

Alex grimaced and nodded to Tom that he would explain later. He held the door open for Charlotte and she shrugged that she had tried her best before they were able to leave.

~ Charlotte Evens had been with Alex in the Marines. By **with him** , meaning she had served with him and nothing more. They had been friends because Alex had been too closed off to make friends easily and Charlotte had been too audacious and rude to notice that Alex had been too closed off.

He had always thought she was stunningly beautiful, lightyears beyond his league, and by the time he realized she was a lesbian, his sexual desire for her had cooled a little under the constant stress of military service.

Charlotte had finished college and joined the FBI after her tour was over and encouraged Alex to come with her. Alex, at the time lacking a college degree due to his own pig headedness, had gone back to his home town to join the Sheriff's department.

He'd decided to go back to school so that he could pursue a career with the FBI. He was unattached and thought he would enjoy the challenge of it. Why not? All of this was before that rainy night when he met Norma Bates of course.

~ "So, tell me all about Norma Bates." Charlotte said with her crafty shark like smile.

Alex felt his pulse quicken when he glanced suspiciously at Charlotte. His old friend was trustworthy, yet she could be vicious at times. He'd seen her on the battle field and she was ruthlessly cold and unfeeling.

She was the perfect agent to investigate sex trafficking crimes because these kinds of things didn't seem to bother her. A normal person would be horrified to have to face the rape and enslavement of young girls on a day to day basis. Charlotte regarded it as almost clinical. She assessed what needed to be done for the victims, collected evidence, and went to work apprehending the suspect. Her feelings never got in the way.

It was like her heart was made of ice. She could understand the horror of the crime, respect it as being wrong. Then she would go after the criminal with such vigor, that it wasn't unlike a vicious animal attacking its' prey.

Like she truly was an unfeeling shark who'd only smelled blood in the water, and had to attack.

When her prey was sentenced, 30 years or more depending, there was smug satisfaction, almost like a natural high that seemed to flood over Charlotte. Like she enjoyed the suffering of those who made others suffer.

"I take it she's special." Charlotte commented once the waitress brought their coffee and left them alone again.

They had retreated to the small dinner that was known for serving greasy hamburgers and french fries. Alex loved this place because it housed one of the few happy memories of him and his dad. That the Old Bear used to bring him here with all his cop buddies when he was little and they would all talk sport and other manly things in front of Alex and although he was just a little boy, not much older than Dylan, he felt very grown up.

"She is." Alex snapped. He looked carefully at the folder containing Norma's personal records. Everything Charlotte could find on Norma's past that she'd been unwilling to share with him.

"She must be." Charlotte said. "If you're doing all this."

Alex hesitated and failed to open the folder.

"You asked about the compound?" Charlotte offered. She nodded to the folder. "It's in there. You're not going to like it."

"What happened?" Alex asked. "Something to do with dogs. She was afraid of dogs for a long time."

"I don't blame her." Charlotte said indifferently. Her cold heart seeming to care less about Norma suffering.

"I'm not sure if I want to know." Alex said feeling slightly sick now.

"Well, you can always wait till the two of you are married and have a pack of kids running around. That is the next step isn't it?" Charlotte said mercilessly. "Gross." she made a face of slight disgust. "You know she already has two little boys right?"

"Yes, I know that, Chuck." Alex sneered.

"She named her youngest son Norman for God sake. What kind of psychopath does that?" she asked.

"Chuck." Alex sighed.

"Sorry." Charlotte said quickly.

She waited for Alex to open the folder and when he only stared at it she let out a sigh.

"You want me to just tell you the highlights?" she offered.

"Just tell me she had a hard but normal childhood, Chuck." Alex sighed.

"Would her profile be so thick if her childhood had been normal, Alex?" Charlotte asked. "I'll have you know that I had to utilize a lot of favors in other departments, data forensics, and others we won't mention to get you this information so you better appreciate it."

"I do." Alex said feeling overwhelmingly saddened that he was about to learn horrible things about Norma Bates.

"She told me once, when they were kids, that her and her brother were left alone for a while by their parents. That they had to cook for themselves. Hotdogs. Over a camp fire. She has a burn from it." he said.

"I'm sure that wasn't the first or the last time Ray and Francine Calhoun left their two minor children alone." Charlotte said in a sour voice. She flipped open the well organized profile she assembled on Norma Bates.

"Your girlfriend, Alex, was born Norma Louise Calhoun on June 2nd, 1974. Gemini." she made a face. "Gemini. The twins. You know that sign is always tricky, Alex. Split personalities? Two people living inside one?"

"Can we stick to the facts?" Alex asked.

"She was born in Los Angeles California to Ray and Francine Calhoun. She had one brother, Caleb who was four years older. The family was very hard to track during the seventies due to the very free spirited nature of the times. They traveled a lot but finally settled in Lotus, Florida in 1989 where they continue to live today." Charlotte informed him.

"Norma said she was born in Florida and her parents died." Alex interrupted.

"Well, Ray and Francine Calhoun are rising from their graves every month to cash their social security checks, disability and go to doctors appointments regularly." Charlotte said without concern.

Alex looked over the latest driver's license photo of Norma's parents. Ray and Francine looked nothing like their daughter. Perhaps Norma had her father's eyes, but both her parents were too heavyset, too broad and weathered to produced a child as delicate and beautiful as Norma. If anything, Ray and Francine looked like the parents of Keith and Maggie Summers.

"Ray had a fall at some temp job and he's been on disability since 89'. Francine had a mental break that required her to be committed to a county facility. Seems she tried to burn the house down with her youngest daughter inside it just three years ago." Charlotte said. "Fire department managed to get the little girl out before there was any real harm done. Social services intervened and took her away for good."

"Wait." Alex lifted up the flood of paper work and shooed away the waitress who had come back to refill the coffee. He had never once heard Norma mention a younger sibling.

"Youngest daughter?" he asked Charlotte.

"Yeah. She's about five now. Lives with some foster family in Florida. Her parents haven't tried to get her back. Her uncle Caleb tired once but it didn't get too far with all his warrants. She's going to be up for adoption soon. The family courts there are really slow." Charlotte told him.

Alex pawed over the police report depicting a fire that Francine Calhoun had set claiming her young daughter was possessed by demons and had to be purified.

"Violet." He said reading the name neatly typed on the report. "Violet Rose Calhoun."

He found the hospital intake form with a copy of a polaroid picture of Violet. A sad looking little girl that was the mirror image of her older sister at that age. Complete in ever detail down to her pouty expression. The only difference was the eyes. Violet's eyes were brown where Norma's were blue.

Violet's arms were wrapped in bandages from the fire, but she looked unharmed otherwise. Her face, even at such a young age, seemed distrustful of others around her. Suspicious of the nurses and those charged with protecting her. It was Norma all over again.

"Norma never told you she had a kid sister?" Charlotte asked with a raised eyebrow. That shark smile coming out and Alex felt a chill running down his spine.

"No." Alex admitted soberly.  
"I doubt she even knew." Charlotte said smugly. "She was born about a year after Norma married some kid named John Massett and left the state. Wait to get to the part where there's a raid on the compound and she's attacked by the dogs."

 **Yes. I DID model Violet after Vera's sister Taissa. Charlotte is modeled after Gale Gadot. AKA Wonder Woman. I don't care what any of the haters say. The Wonder Woman solo movie is gonna kick ass!**


	41. Chapter 41

41.

~ "I want to talk about… about Violet. Right now, I want to talk about her." Alex said. His focus kept coming back to the police report of a mother who set fire to a house with her two year old child barricaded inside it.

"She's being fast tracked for adoption by a nice family far from her birth parents. They've been fostering her for over a year now." Charlotte said cooly and with that professional detachment that made her so well equipped at her career. "Mother is a university english teacher and former concert violinist. The father is some kind of psychotherapist. They have a nine year old son already but wanted to adopt. Violet was a prime candidate for adoption since she had no other family that could be found that was suitable."

"She's okay? After the fire?" Alex asked hopefully. He couldn't stop looking at the angry little face that looked so much like Norma.

"She had second degree burns to her forearms and legs. Some smoke inhalation but nothing serious. By all accounts, they are good people, well educated professionals who live in a nice neighborhood. They can give Violet an amazing life, Alex." Charlotte assured him.

"As I was saying." she went on. "Norma was born in sunny California but the family was transient her entire childhood. It was very hard to get a fix on them. School records helped, but Norma and Caleb Calhoun attended school only a few months out of every year before the family seemed to pick up stakes and move again. From 76' to 81' they vanished almost completely off the radar."

"What happened?" Alex asked and turned over Violet's records to gruesome photos of the famous Dunham Raid.

"I guess you don't remember your history very well." Charlotte said with the first hint of real sadness to cross her pretty face that day. "It was awful, Alex".

He glanced at the familiar exterior of the massive Dunham compound where the Neo-Nazi group had held a stand off with police for weeks in the summer of 1981. The real tragedy of it was the FBI agents had no idea how heavily armed the radicals were. How willing they were to do damage, or that there were children on the scene.

"Norma wasn't in the building was she?" Alex asked looking at the burned and hollowed out remains of the Dunham building after the final raid that took so many lives and that made national news.

"No." Charlotte said quickly. "She and her brother Caleb had wandered away from the buildings before the first raid ever took place. They were the reason the FBI even knew children were there in the first place."

Alex flipped over the black and white photo of a small little boy by a creek. His body brutally mangled and his throat gnawed out by some animal.

"Norma, her brother Caleb, and another little boy were playing outside when a K-9 unit came upon them. Apart of the task force was creating a permitter around the compound. The children tried to run and the dog attacked. Killing a little boy." Charlotte explained. "The agent had to shoot the dog when he couldn't control it, and the children were taken into custody."

Alex looked over the next picture and saw a traumatized younger Norma, about five years old, with her stocky older brother. Both of them seemed winded and disbelieving what was happening.

"Norma's parents were white supremacists?" Alex asked skeptically. Norma didn't seem particularly racist to him. That was a learned behavior after all, and she didn't try to over compensate to prove she wasn't racist either.

"Ray and Francine Calhoun liked to experiment with a lot of different groups." Charlotte explained. "They belonged to a number of strange cults in the 70's. Were even members of the People's Temple for a short while before Norma was born. Would have gone to Jones Town with Jim Jones if they had any money. Might have been an entirely different situation if they did."

Alex looked over the brutal destruction of the Dunham compound that had left over fifty people dead including several innocent children in the disastrous raid.

"How did Ray and Francine even get their kids back?" he asked. "After all that?"

"Simple." Charlotte laughed. "They weren't even there."

"What?"

"They were out of state when the raid went down and came back without the slightest notion that anything had happened. They claimed they had left the two kids with what they thought were nice people while they looked for work. They disappeared for a few years after that." Charlotte told him.

Alex looked over perplexing reports from social workers all over the country. Norma had lived in almost every state, sometimes twice, attending school sporadically. It wasn't until she was in her mid teens that her life seemed to stabilize.

"A social worker named Betty Rios threatened action if Norma didn't start attending school regularly." Charlotte explained once Alex got to Norma's Florida transcripts. He was relived to see her grades had begun to improve almost at once. She was even on the Dean's List a few times right up until she dropped out of high school to have Dylan.

"I found out that Norma even lived with the social worker Betty Rios for a brief time. When I called to find out more information, Ms. Rios said she was concerned that Norma was being abused at home. That she was especially fearful of her brother."

"No." Alex shook his head as he examined the recent mug shot of Caleb Calhoun dated just last month. So much for being dead like Norma had claimed on the fishing trip. "Norma has good memories of her brother. She told me so."

"You must have had some concerns, Alex." Charlotte pointed out tactfully. "Or else you wouldn't have asked me to find all this out."

Romero felt his back teeth starting to grind again. A bad habit he hadn't needed since he'd been with Norma.

"Maybe she doesn't know her family is still alive. Maybe, if they're estranged enough to not even know she has a sister…" Alex guessed. If Norma had known about Violet, she would have done something. Sam wouldn't have stopped her and nothing is stopping her now.

"There is one other thing I think I need to tell you." Charlotte told him. "It's about her first marriage to John Massett."

"They divorced when Dylan was two. She told me she had met Sam and wanted to be with him." Alex said feeling defensive. He refused to fault Norma for being young and foolish. Hadn't he made the same mistakes?

"Court records show that Norma Massett, formally Norma Calhoun, never asked the court for an order of child support." Charlotte said flipping to a photocopy of a legal document depicting the details of Norma's divorce and custody of Dylan.  
"John Massett never asked for shared custody of his son Dylan and actually petitioned the court to have his name removed from Dylan's birth certificate." Charlotte told him.

"Why?" Alex asked in disbelief. He would never hate the mother of his child so much as to want to dissolve any bond with his own son.

Charlotte turned the next page of the file to a recent Maine driver's license that was under the name of John Massett.

"John Massett insisted that Dylan wasn't his son and that his wife had tricked him into marrying her because she was already pregnant by another man." Charlotte told him.

Alex looked over the driver's license picture of Dylan's father. He could see why John Massett had doubts. Anyone would have doubted that Dylan, with his blond hair and blue eyes, could be the biological son of this dark haired and dark eyed man.

"You and John Massett could be brothers." Charlotte nodded. "Norma defiantly has a type."

Alex said nothing and Charlotte seemed at last to know when to stop her attack.

"If John Massett had any theories about who Dylan's father was, he didn't present them in court." Charlotte told him gently. "I tired to reach him on the phone, but he's out of the country right now."

Alex looked over the sad, patchwork of Norma Bates' life. So much made sense to him now. Her fear of dogs, her need to keep things in order. Her constant fear of losing control of things. Even the unbreakable regime she held over the boys bedtime schedule was explained by the erratic vagabond life she'd had to endure as a child. Her home cooked meals, her cozy little house, her piano playing. All of it was meant to give the illusion that she was perfectly normal and had an ordinary life.

That she wasn't the dirty, traumatized child who watched her friend get mauled to death by a dog during an FBI raid. No one would ever suspect her of being that little girl. Certainly Alex never had. He would never have pieced together that strange horrible childhood with the Norma Bates he knew.

The Norma Bates who's home was always tidy and comfortable. Who's boys were well behaved and where the clothes were cleaned properly and timely. A woman who categorized leftovers and had started making him take healthy lunches to work when she found out he had been eating at this grease trap a few days a week.

A woman who cooked bacon and eggs for a dog.

No. No one would ever suspect she'd ever come from such a strange background. Above all of Norma's talents, her piano playing, her singing, her cooking, and her sewing. Her greatest feat so far, was the illusion of a perfectly normal life.

Now he felt guilty for prying into that former life. A life she had clearly wanted burned and buried for all time. A life she had wanted forgotten about and never mentioned again.

"Are you going to say anything to Norma?" Charlotte asked. "About what you know?"

"I can't." Alex shook his head. "I mean, I'd like to tell her she has a sister, because I don't think she knows, but…" he shook his head. "It would only do more harm than good at this point. Violet's going to be adopted by a nice family and Norma's finally in a good place. After everything she's been through, she's doing well, she seems content. The two of us, we're happy. If and when she wants me to know all this, she will tell me." he said calmly.

"Alex, you need to get you head on strait!" Charlotte snapped at him furiously. "You're in love and I'm happy for you, but you at least need to tell Norma about her own sister. Maybe it's possible that she didn't know her parents were alive. Maybe she wants to connect with her brother again. You told me they were close."

"You said that social worker was suspicious of him." Alex said darkly. "And he's been in trouble with the law."

He looked over Caleb Calhoun's arrest record. Norma wouldn't like anyone in town knowing about her brother's background. Or her own ties to the Dunham massacre.

"No." Alex shook his head. "No, I'm not telling her anything."

He stood up and quickly snatched away the thick folder Charlotte had prepared for him.  
"Thank you." he said to his old friend.

"You're welcome, Handsome." she said with a soft smile that showed there were no hard feeling. "You know, we're still waiting on your application for the FBI now that you have your degree."

Alex looked uncomfortable.

"My priorities may be changing." he explained.

"I understand completely." Charlotte said with her shark like grin. "Alex?"

Romero turned around to make sure she could have the last word.  
"Alex, if it was me, if I was Norma Bates, I would want to know about my sister." Charlotte told him. "If there was a truth about myself, I'd want to know."

Alex looked at the tick folder in his hand and then back at Charlotte.

"Its' better that it comes from you than a stranger. You could always say some private detective contacted the Sheriff's department. Then, if she wants to meet Violet, see Caleb and her parents, it's her call." Charlotte said with a little shrug.

"I'll keep that in mind, Chuck." Alex said uncomfortably.

~ Graceland was snoozing lazily with her head on Norma's lap as she read the last few chapters of her book. She was enjoying the evil thrill of the crime novels Alex had collected over the years. She secretly admired the killer and his ability to outsmart the gifted detective who was solving impossible case after imposable case in each of the book series.

The dog had gotten into the habit of resting her head on Norma's lap as soon as she sensed it was quite reading time. Lazy weekend hours when Alex and Dylan were playing ball outside with Norman, working on the old Buick, or when Norman was down for a nap and Alex and Dylan were somewhere doing things she didn't care about.

They usually came back into the house hot, dirty and asking about supper. Dylan looking up to Alex with a certain shine of admiration since he'd spent the whole day with him someplace.

Norma never asked because her sons, both of them, were always contently happy at the end of those lovely weekdays with just them and Alex. So much so that they both took their baths as soon as they were home, ate dinner obediently and were asleep before eight o'clock. Alex taking Dylan with him and Wilson on the boat each Sunday for fishing.

This always left Norma alone with only Norman and Graceland of company. At first, she wanted Alex to take the dog with them on the boat again. After the way that she'd barked to alert them to Dylan falling in, Norma had changed her mind and decided that Graceland was the best dog ever.

Instead, Alex felt it was better that Graceland stay at home with her.

"Security System." was all he would say when she asked why.

She had learned to enjoy having the dog around when she had the house to herself. Norman was taking his nap and she was cleaning, doing laundry or reading. It was nice to have the company and to know if anyone broke into the house, Graceland wouldn't bother to dial 911.

This Sunday afternoon, Graceland's ears perked up and Norma recognized that she heard Alex's old pick up truck coming down the lane. The dog didn't want to move and instead seemed to make herself heavier as Dylan burst through the door carrying a large cooler.

Norma was thankful Alex had made him take off the rubber fishing boots he'd bought him before coming into the house.

"Guess what, mom?" Dylan exclaimed.

"What?" Norma grinned at her beautiful little boy who was still sunburned from last Sunday.  
"We caught three big fish for dinner!" Dylan told her holding up the cooler proudly.

Norma tried to look pleased. Her inner voice wanting to scream in terror.

"I already cleaned and gutted them." Alex assured her coming inside and closing the door behind them.

Graceland didn't raise her head up off of Norma's lap to greet her partner.

"Wow!" Norma said trying to sound impressed.

"I'll put them in the freezer." Alex said taking the cooler from Dylan.

"Honey, I want you to go take a bath and put that cream on your face. You've got sun burn again." Norma scolded gently.

She reached out to him as best she could with the dog on her lap and smoothed out Dylan's shirt.

"Did you have fun?" she whispered.  
"Yeah." Dylan nodded.

"I'm glad." Norma smiled. "Now, go take a bath."

Dylan nodded and went for the bathroom as ordered leaving Alex and Norma alone until dinner.

"Norman asleep?" Alex asked with that devilish grin that always appeared when they were finally alone. He sank into the cozy arm chair beside the sofa where Norma and the dog presided, and looked at them both affectionally.

"Yeah his allergy medication knocked him out." Norma sighed putting a bookmark on the page she'd stopped reading at. Her hands brushing over Graceland's fur gently and the dog refused to move off her lap.

"We need to talk, Norma." Alex said darkly.

"About what?" she asked in alarm. Hadn't things been going well? Weren't they all happy?

"You've been spoiling my dog and turned her into a pampered baby." Alex accused and nodded to Graceland.

A low growl emanated from the dogs throat that stopped when Norma started petting her again.  
"I have not!" Norma said defensively.

"You feed her chicken, fried eggs and bacon everyday." Alex pointed out.

"I make her mini plates of whatever I feed you and the boys." Norma told him. Alex looked at her skeptically.

"Plus extra." she admitted guiltily.

"Norma, she's a highly trained police dog and she's being spoiled by you. She has to go back on her dry dog food. She's not supposed to eat people food. She's already fat and lazy." he nodded to the dog that refused to lift its' own head.

"Alex!" Norma gasped.  
"Sorry, but it's true. Promise me. No more bacon and fried eggs." he said.

"Alex, she's a good, girl!" Norma told him and rubbed Graceland behind the ears. The dog thumping her tail at the attention.

"I know she is." Alex said with that little grin that told Norma she would eventually get her way.

"She has to go back on her regular diet. She can have her bacon treats once in a while, but no more special meals for the dog, Norma. I mean it." he said.

"You're so mean." Norma sighed and Graceland gave another deep growl. Somehow sensing the change in diet and not liking it at all. Her partner obviously interfering with the nice lady who gave her such yummy foods.

"Promise." Alex demanded.

"I promise." Norma sighed and tried to ignore the sad look Graceland gave her and the pitiful whining.

"Good." Alex said and moved a little closer to her.

"What is it?" she asked. She hadn't been with him long, but could tell when something serious needed to be discussed.

"Something else happened earlier this week, Norma. Something I need to talk to you about." he said carefully.  
"Did they find anything about Keith Summers?" she asked. That was the only real gossip in town just now. The fact the local drunk was still missing and no one seemed to know what happened to him.  
"No." Alex said quickly.

He looked away from her for a moment, unable to meet her in the eye.

"What is it, Alex?" she asked. Whatever it was, it was bad.

"Norma, um… a private detective contacted the Sheriff's department a few days ago trying to reach you." he said slowly.  
"What? Why?" she asked. Her heart started beating quicker and there was an all too familiar panic flooding over her body at the idea of someone looking for her.

"Nothing bad." Alex assured her quickly. "It seems that there is a little girl being adopted by a nice couple in Florida and they were trying to make sure that there were no relatives."

"What?" Norma asked. She was completely lost.

"A little girl who's just a few months younger than Dylan. Her name is Violet Rose Calhoun. Her parents are Ray and Francine Calhoun." Alex told her with some difficulty.


	42. Chapter 42

42.

~ Alex watched Norma's expression carefully. Watched her normally pretty face fall and seem to age ten years in mere seconds. He quickly retrieved the folded paper work with all of Violet's information on it. Everything Charlotte had given him.

Wondering for the hundredth time if it was a good idea to tell Norma about her, and deciding that if it was him, if he had a missing link to his family, he'd want to know.

"Um, she's five now." Alex said carefully unfolding the printed out documents. "The detective faxed these over to me when I phoned him-"

"Why would they call you?" Norma asked suddenly. Her hands still holding onto Graceland and not wanting to touch the papers that held proof that her parents were still alive.

"Well, because your number was unlisted, Norma. I think he called the Sheriff's station hoping in a small town we might now who you were. Logically, the call got transferred over to me. Makes sense." Alex explained.

Norma still looked skeptically at the papers Alex was unfolding. As if it contained some kind of bomb and she was preparing for an explosion.

Alex looked sadly down at Violet's little face. The face of a traumatized two year old who'd just escaped a house fire. Next was a more recent photo of a happy little girl, beautiful, really, smiling for the camera. She had her blond hair pinned back in a high pony tail and looked so much like Norma, Alex could hardly believe it wasn't Norma as a child.

Violet was dressed for Easter in that photo dated just a few months ago. Complete with a bright pink dress and white sandals. Her smile was radiant and all American. Not a trace of the frightened and distrusting child from the hospital photos was left.

"She's really lovely." Alex offered the more recent picture of Violet over to Norma for examination.

At first, Norma didn't take the color photo copy of the girl in the puffy pink dress. She looked at it with that same distrusting face Violet wore in the hospital after the fire. The same face Alex had seen on Norma many times. After he'd visited her in the hospital when Sam broke her arm and Alex had killed him for it.

It had taken Norma so long to lose that distrustful expression. Now it was back in full force.

Slowly, carefully, Norma let go of the dog and ran a hand over the photo copy of Violet. Alex noticed she was shaking and her eyes were such a bright blue, they seemed to burn with intensity.

"She- She's being adopted?" Norma whispered.  
"Yes." Alex said. He felt like he was fishing again. Holding out the picture of Violet and waiting for Norma to take it. Finally, her hands trembling, she grasped the photo copy and looked it over carefully.

"The family that's adopting her are really amazing. I've run a background check on them myself." he told her.

Norma looked up in surprise that he'd been so proactive. Or maybe that he hadn't demanded she explain herself to him.  
Alex shrugged, smiled as best he could, and hoped he had enough charm to put her at ease. He wasn't known for being charming.

"You know how I am." he said as if making a poorly executed joke.

Norma went back to examining the picture.

"The father is a therapist who worked with people exposed to extreme trauma. He's apparently gone all over the world to places where there's been bombings, refugee camps. Doctors without borders. Now he's settling into a teaching job at the university where his wife works." Alex explained.

Norma looked up from the picture of Violet in alarm.

"They're both teachers at… at a university?" she asked meekly. Her teeth bitting down on her lower lip. Alex could tell she was intimidated by those who were highly educated. That she believed she wasn't able to achieve such things, even though Alex knew she was more capable than half the idiots with degrees out there.

Most people with degrees couldn't work a full time job, take care of two young boys, keep a spotless house and have dinner ready every night. Yet, Norma Bates could make it look easy.

"Yes. The mother is a former violinist. She loves music." Alex said comfortingly. Hoping that their shared interest might make the mystery woman more relatable. "Now she teaches English to the incoming Freshmen. They already have a son of their own, but it seems they decided to adopt now."

"This detective is sure that… that this girl is my sister?" Norma asked. Her eyes wide.

Alex looked back at her in surprise. How could there be any doubt? The child was Norma in miniature. You take away twenty years and they were the same.

"It's just that, my mother… she would have been over forty." Norma breathed. Her voice trembling slightly.

"People have babies after forty, Norma." Alex said calmly. He didn't mention that she had said her parents died when she was a teenager. Refused to call her a liar. Her past was ugly and horrible and he didn't blame her for wanting to hide from it.

Here in her clean and cozy house, everything was picture perfect. Perfection right down to the fresh flowers on the kitchen table, and the emerald green apron neatly hung over a mismatched chair. She was well camouflaged from that past here and Alex had every intention of helping her stay disguised.

Norma shook her head stubbornly.

"Um… maybe she's Caleb's?" she offered lamely. Her arms folding over her chest in a protective gesture Alex had seen with victims before. Her body language instantly reminding him of Dylan when he had to talk about Shelby. Of Maggie when she had to talk about Keith.

Norma's eyes refusing to look at him.

"Ray and Francine Calhoun are listed on the birth certificate, Norma." Alex said in a calm and gentle tone. "Caleb, your brother, wasn't even in the same state the year she was born."

"I'll bet." Norma snapped harshly. Her breathing rapid and Alex saw tears brimming her eyes.

Graceland felt the change in her mistress to and sat up, looking at Norma in concern.  
"So… so what? They die or something?" Norma snapped again. Her voice like acid now but tears were being held back.  
"No." Alex said calmly. "No. They're still alive. Still living in Florida. There was a fire at the house. The state took Violet away and they never asked for her back."

He had decided to gloss over Francine's delusions of the child being possessed by evil sprits. That would upset Norma even more and he couldn't have that. Not now.

"A fire?" Norma took a deep breath and tears fell down her face. Her eyes stopped that horrible burning and became a beautiful electric blue. A safe blue light that wouldn't harm anyone. A mother's instinct coming out now that seemed to wash away all resentment to her parents.

"Was she hurt?" she asked.  
"No." Alex lied easily. "A neighbor got her out."

Norma nodded and breathed out in relief.

"Good." she said.

"I told the detective that you might want to contact the family, but the adoption process is already underway." Alex told her cautiously. "We could hire a lawyer. As her biological sister, you'd have your day in court."

"Alex, I already have a hard enough time making ends meet without hiring a lawyer." Norma sighed weakly.

He was ready to argue about how she never let him pay for anything.

"If I try to get custody, all that will happen is they will bring up my past." she groaned defeatedly. "Investigate me. Find things out. Things I…" she seemed to take on a thousand yard stare as if he wasn't in the room.  
"Norma?" he promoted.

She came back to reality and shook her head.

"The family that's adopting her is really nice?" she asked hopefully.

Alex nodded and handed her the adoption information on the Harmon family.

"She's been with them over a year now. They can provide for her. Give her a very nice life." he explained.

"Better than I can." Norma said with a trace of bitterness.

"She already calls them Mom and Dad." he said. "So, I'm told."

Norma nodded.  
"That's good. I shouldn't try to get in the way." she said and touched her nose with the back of her hand. "Do you think she remembers anything about her real parents?"

"How much do you remember at the age of two?" Alex asked as an answer.

Norma nodded and looked slightly relieved.

"Norman will be up from his nap soon." she said with a shaky voice. "I'll get dinner started."

Alex had been waiting for her to explain something, _anything_ , to him about her fabricated childhood. He could understand why she hadn't mentioned the massacre at the Dunham compound. Why she had even lied to Wilson about her parents.

But to lie to him? He'd never lied to her. He'd told her the sad truth about his mother. The uncomfortable truth about his father being in prison. How everyone in the department thought he had turned him in.

How could Norma, someone who he cared for so much, not tell him the truth now? Did she think he wouldn't love her anymore? Wouldn't protect her?

What truth could be so terrible that she thought he would walk away from her? From a life that he finally belonged to.

"Norma?" Alex called after her as she quickly escaped to the bedroom.

She tried to close the door before he could catch her, but he was too fast.

"What?" Norma said coldly and started to back away from him. The paperwork on Violet clutched protectively to her chest. That same defensive body posture that he'd only seen in victims of truly violent crimes was present.

Her arms wrapping around her chest. Her eyes looking down. Her hips and feet pointed away from him.

"Norma." he said softly. "I was just hoping for a reason you don't want to see your parents. Your brother's still alive. Caleb? I thought you and he were close."

Norma looked broken. Her spine curling in like a fragile bird.

"I… um…" she said softly.

He stepped closer to her.

"What is it?" he asked. Careful not to lead her into easy answers. Remembering how Wilson had forced Dylan to say exactly what Shelby had done to him and done it without guidance so that he knew it was real.

He knew Norma's parents were abusive and perhaps mentally unstable. That her home as a child was never safe. She needed to be able to tell him that it wasn't a happy fairytale. If she loved him, she couldn't live a total lie anymore.

"It was easier." she said at last. "To pretend they were dead. To just… pretend that I buried them."

Alex understood that. He'd buried his own father years ago. His own father was still breathing and alive, would probably live another fifty years if Simon was any indication. Yet, Alex had buried him after the first time he'd seen his mother hurt herself and his father said she just did it for attention.

"I haven't seen my parents…" she shifted her weight uncomfortably and wouldn't look at him. "Or my brother." she shuddered slightly as if cold. "Since I was sixteen. Since I found out I was pregnant with Dylan."

"I… I know you had a rough childhood." Alex offered.

"Rough?" Norma shook her head. "No. No, it was hell." she wiped her nose with the back of her hand and looked at him with a sad expression.

"You're going to leave soon anyway." she said bitterly. "So what does it matter? You deserve to know what kind of woman I am. What kind of woman is going to ruin your life. What kind of gossip is…" her lower lip trembled and Alex felt his heart break for her. He'd give anything to go back in time and never bring up Violet.

Go back in time and the only fight they would have was over the dog.

"Is going to humiliate… you." she sobbed.

"Norma." he said and stepped closer to her. His hands resting on her waist.

Like a tiger she struck out at him. Her eyes fierce and almost wild with hate.

"Don't touch me." she warned.

"Okay." he said and yet refused to back away. His hands playing a game of shadowing her body. Not daring to touch her, but not allowing her to be without him.

She seemed to be soothed by him. The way their heads leaned into each other, felt like they were just about to kiss, but neither one of them having the courage to go first. Alex, gently running a hand over her chin and felt her nose graze over his check.

"I never loved someone, like I love you." she whispered. All her strength was gone. She had nothing left.

Alex moved closer and wrapped an arm around her waist. His lips finally touching hers with such gentleness, it was like it was the first time they were kissing. Like he was testing the water to see it was too cold for swimming.

Her lips were as soft and perfect as ever. Rising up to meet him beautifully. Her breathing was coming so hard, it was like they had been making love, but here she was, broken and afraid.

"I never loved someone enough to feel obligated to tell them the truth." she cried softly.

"I don't want you to feel obligated." Alex said quickly.

"I never told anyone." she said in a distant voice that sounded like she had left her body.  
"Baby, it's okay." he whispered. His hands were smoothing down her hair and wishing he hadn't said anything.

"I never told Sam or John." she said and finally blinked. Her eyes the same color blue as winter. A winter when everything beautiful dies.

Those eyes Alex admired so much caught him as if by magic. Holding him there so he couldn't get away.

"I never told Dylan." she said. "How could I?"

"What? What happened?" Alex asked. He wasn't sure what she was saying. He just wanted to know how to fix this. How to fix her and make everything better.

"I loved my brother." she explained easily. "He protected me. Took care of me. I always felt safe with him."

Alex felt his blood turn cold. He new then. Knew what had happened.  
"When it started, I thought it was my fault. I thought I had done something to him. To trigger him into doing it. I thought boys couldn't control themselves. I knew I couldn't tell anyone because I would be blamed." she said calmly. Alex felt his blood turn even colder at her seeming indifference.

"So I kept it secret for him." she shrugged. "Kept what he did to me secret. Even when he was eighteen and could have left, he stayed. He… he just wouldn't leave me alone." she said darkly. "When I tried to finally put a stop to it…" she trailed off and her gaze became distant again.

Alex couldn't think of what to do. What to say. He could only picture Violet for some reason. How her sweetness and innocence was something to be cherished and not brutalized.

"The thing was that I still loved him. Still wanted to believe he wouldn't hurt me anymore." she said. Her eyes flicked over to him accusingly. "You know what its' like to be raped by someone you love? Over and over? To find out you're going to have your brother's baby? That you can't go through with the abortion? To live in fear that he'll find you? See the truth and try to take your child away from you? Hurt you again?"

Norma's eyes were no longer winter. They were that blazing blue fire that could burn through anything.

"So, now you know who you're involved with, Deputy." she sighed. Fresh tears brimming in her eyes. Her arms folding protectively across her chest again. "Now you know exactly how messed up Norma Bates really is. That she'll ruin you. Ruin your career, you reputation. Everyone will be laughing at you."

She stepped away from him again and her face crumpled in new agony.

"So… maybe you should just… leave. I'll explain to the boys later." she said weakly.

Alex was too stunned to say anything at first. Too stunned to think. The shock wearing off quickly though at the image of Norma as a child being brutalized by the one person she loved and trusted. Instead of pity for her he felt admiration she had survived it. That she had the courage to have the baby and raise it with love. How hard it must have been to look at Dylan and see what had happened to her everyday.

Of course she had lied to him. Lied to herself probably.

"I thinks it's for the best." he said at last.

Norma looked away from him. A sob becoming stifled quickly.

"We should defiantly get bigger place, Norma." he sighed.

She looked back at him curiously and he shrugged.

"One bathroom? The four of us? Two bedrooms? I know you like this house, but we need to start looking for a bigger place." He explained casually. "Dylan's going to want his own bedroom soon. Maybe something with a bigger kitchen to."

Norma didn't look happy, but she didn't look sad either.

"We're going to order a pizza tonight. Let the boys watch a movie or something." Alex whispered in her ear as she sobbed in his arms.


	43. Chapter 43

43.

~ "What do you mean you never made a living room fort?" Alex pretended to be shocked when Dylan confessed to not knowing about the long standing tradition of children cannibalizing their parents couches, chairs, blankets and pillows to create their own temporary play house.

"First you to take the cushions off the sofa." he explained while Norma brought in chairs from the kitchen and extra blankets from the hallway closet. She gave Alex a grateful smile as he skillfully rearranged her couch and armchair to make a secure tent for the boys to sleep under.

"You use the cushions as a mattress." Alex said once he had fastened the edges of the blankets to the kitchen chairs. Norma handed Dylan some clean sheets and Norman watched the strange transformation of their living room.

"This way you and your brother can watch movies all night and sleep in the living room." Alex told them.

"Can we really?" Dylan asked hopefully. Norma had a hard and fast rule about television in her home. No TV for any of them after dinner because they always had trouble going to bed after watching anything. It overstimulated them and gave Norman nightmares sometimes.

She also didn't like the general noise of TV and felt it was better to just have a quite house, or music playing. Sam had been the only one to watch TV in the house and even then he only watched sports.

Norma could care less if she had a TV at all.

"Yes." She nodded to her oldest. "You can watch the tapes Tess gave you and Norman for your birthdays. The Disney movies only, Dylan. Not Jurassic Park."

"Okay." Dylan said happily and ran to his room with Norman in tow to get their stash of toys.

Both of them racing back with action figures and toy cars just as the door bell rang for pizza delivery.

~ Norma had always thought she didn't like someone else being in charge of her life. Someone else making decisions for her as she stood passively by. A spectator and nothing more. She hated it when her father did it, and when Sam bullied her into submission.

Yet, after finding out about Violet. After confessing to Alex about Caleb and what he'd done to her. The awful truth about Dylan. A truth she had never had the courage to put into words before. After all that, she was too exhausted to keep fighting the world.

All she cared about now was that Alex had held her as she cried. That he was unwilling to leave her, despite learning such a horrible thing about her. A thing that could ruin him and make him a joke in the eyes of everyone.

He had taken charge that evening and told the boys they were ordering a pizza for dinner, building a living room fort and that they could watch movies all night since it was the last week of summer.

It was something that was so simple and ordinary, yet Norma found it almost heroic the way Alex over tipped the teenager delivering the pizzas and brought in three large boxes for them.  
"Alex, that's too much!" Norma scolded.

"Boys, we got pepperoni, cheese and meat lovers." Alex grinned at her.

She could just see the potential of grease stains on her sofa cushions and sheets and was quick to bring out a fresh roll of paper towels and paper plates.

"No grease anywhere." she wanted them sternly as Alex tried to sneak Dylan a can of pepsi and Norma pretended not to see.

She didn't like soft drinks either and never gave it to her kids. Yet, tonight, she was willing to let all the rules be broken. Or at least bent a little. One can between the two of them wouldn't hurt.

"Your mom and I are going to go to bed early and talk for a while." Alex said as Norma tucked her youngest into a little nest of blankets next to his brother. The two of them looking cozy and happy.

Graceland, not wanting to be left out, had waited until the two smallest members of her pack were settled, before slinking into the tent between the boys and nestling between them.

Dylan quickly giving her a slice of the meat lovers pizza which she gobbled up greedily.

Alex shot Norma and accusing glare.

"He learned that from you." he said with a slight grin.

Norma looked away and pretended she wasn't amused.

"Boys, we can't give the dog anymore people food. It's not good for her." Norma explained to Dylan and Norman.

"She likes our food." Dylan protested.

"It's not good her." Norma told him. "She's a police dog and she needs to eat her special dog food to stay healthy."

She looked knowingly at her oldest.

"Promise?" she asked.

"Okay." Dylan sighed.

"You guys have fun and don't stay up too late. Your mom and I are going to be sleeping so keep it down." Alex warned them.

"Okay." the boys said in unison. Already their attention was focused entirely on the opening sequence of ' _The Lion King_ '.

"No ' _Jurassic Park_ '." Norma reminded them.

~ "Thank you for doing this." Norma sighed heavily once she and Alex had retreated from the obligation of young children and were eating their share of pizza in her room.

Another one of Norma's rules was that she didn't allow food in bedrooms. Tonight was yet another exception.

She and Alex sat cross legged across from one another on her bed and enjoyed the simple pleasure of greasy junk food and carbonated drinks. Or at least Alex did.

"You're welcome." he grinned that mischievous smile that meant he was up to no good.

"I still can't believe you don't like soda. It's un-American." he shook his head in disgust.

"You gonna arrest me deputy?" she teased.

"I think I could." he said.

"I don't think you can."

"I think it's against the law to hate soda." he insisted.

Norma giggled.

"And television." she reminded him.

He shook his head as if she were a lost cause.

"I think the boys and I might have to have a Rec Room or something." he sighed.

"A what?" she asked.

"A recreation room." he clarified. "You know. Big TV, video games, maybe a pool table and mini bar with a tap. Very mom free zone. Always wanted a Rec Room. Be a good place to bring their friends to come over when they get older. Everyone will be safe and we won't have to worry about where they are."

"All that's not going to work in this little house." Norma reminded him.

"That's why we're looking for a bigger place, Norma." Alex reminded him.

Norma had thought he was just saying that before. That it was simply something you said but didn't really mean. Promises you didn't intend to keep.

"Alex." she sighed. "We… we haven't known each other very long."

"No, we haven't." Alex agreed.  
"A few months." she reminded him. "That's not long at all."

"I know." he nodded.  
"You're already saying you want us to move into our own place?" she laughed uncomfortably. "I mean, we don't really even know each other that well."

"Fair enough." he agreed. "I agree that it's a little fast, but…" he shook his head and seemed too stubborn to let the idea drop.

"Alex, I'm receiving benefits from the government as a single mother. If we move in together, if I let you help me pay the bills or the rent. Anything like that, I'll lose my childcare for Norman. I was lucky that Sybil found this house for me. That I could afford it with what I make. If we break up, if I have to move out, it will be harder to find a place to live I can afford again. Not to mention the fact it will be harder to get back on assistance. Sybil was very clear on that." Norma explained.

"You always plan for the worst?" Alex asked.

"Yes!" Norma cried. Disbelieving that Alex didn't expect the worst was going to happen.

He looked at her with real concern in his eyes. Clearly he didn't think the worst was bound to happen.

"Everything ends, Alex." she told him. "Relationships… I mean, they end. I've never been good at them and I never will be. At least what we have now…"

She looked around her cozy bedroom.

"At least here, when it ends, there won't be major damage." she sighed. "I won't have to pick up my life again."

Alex looked unfazed and remained silent for a while.

Norma felt slightly ashamed of herself for not being more of a romantic. Why couldn't she just trust her feelings for him? Trust his for her? She knew he loved her. Saw it ways that radiated beyond words.

In the way he looked after her sons like a father would. The way he made sure she had gas in her car and that she always felt safe with him there.

The way he never showboated or scared her. How he saved Dylan from the cold bay waters and knew exactly what to do to keep him warm. How since that rainy night she first met him, she had known that she could trust him. Trusted him enough, loved him enough to give him her darkest secret.

No, she knew that they loved each other.

So why couldn't she have faith in that love?

"Did I ever tell you I was married before?" he asked suddenly.

Norma looked up un surprise and shook her head.

Alex nodded. That amused little smirk was back on his face.

"I was in the Marines. Just finished my first tour overseas." he clarified. "She was the sister of one of my buddies and we really hit it off. Got married in Vegas after dating for just a few weeks. One of those tacky neon wedding chapels."

"Elvis?" Norma asked hopefully.

"Sinatra impersonator." Alex clarified. "Unfortunately all the Elvis's were booked."

"Oh." Norma nodded understandingly.

"Anyway, we got divorced six months after that." Alex smiled tersely.

"What happened?" Norma gasped in alarm.

"I was twenty years old." He explained simply. "A month into it I realized I had made a horrible mistake. I became impossible to live with."

He had the good sense to look ashamed of himself.

"I… um… she left me. After she pressed charges of domestic violence." he admitted.

Norma was stunned. She knew violent men. Men who were so cowardly that their only way to feel powerful was to abuse women. Alex Romero wasn't the kind of man to rise to anger easily. Even when provoked.

"Not against her." he said quickly. "Her brother, the friend I served with, came over when we were having a fight. Alcohol was involved. He and I got into our own bawl on the front lawn. Both of us got arrested. I don't remember who threw the first punch, but she sent me divorce papers and I signed them."

Norma had to tell herself to breathe again. This revelation didn't sound at all like Alex. In so many ways he really was like a bear. Harmless in appearance and when left alone. Yet she knew he was dangerous when provoked.

Still, it took a lot to provoke him. Something like Sam trying to kill her for example.

"I re-enlisted and did another tour." Alex went on. "Came home and decided to spend some time with my mom before going back to school on the GI bill. Then she died."

He finished that last sentence curtly. As if his mother's death had ended any hope of his own happy ending.

"I'm sorry." she whispered. His mother's suicide must have been hard for him to deal with. For the whole town to know.

"The hardest part about losing a parent is that you lose that connection to your past." Alex explained. His voice changing slightly. "There are things I wish I could ask her now. Memories I have that I wish she could share with me. Stories she used to tell me."

Norma felt his grief for the loss of someone so close to him reach outward and touch her.

"All her stories are done now." he sighed. "I spent so long being angry with her and for leaving me. Being angry with my dad for driving her to it."

Alex didn't look apologetic or remorseful now.

"Maybe that's why I went to the DEA." he admitted sourly. "Agreed to infiltrate the Sheriff's department and gain intelligence on my dad and all his dirty cops. All his dealings with the big money in this town."

Norma felt her heart start beating faster. Was he actually admitting that he really **did** turn his father over to the DEA?

"Spent over a year gathering evidence that put my father away for life." Alex said tersely. His back jaw grinding slightly. "Along with about thirty other scumbags who deserved it."

Norma remained silent and let him go on.

"No one outside of a few DEA agents know for sure that I was the mole. Not even Tom. He's always suspected though. I had the option to leave after the arrests. Take Simon and go somewhere else and start over." Alex shook his head as if that wasn't an option. "But this is my hometown, Norma. My family has roots here and I'm not leaving because of one rotten branch of the tree. Besides, if I left, everyone would know for sure it was me that sold the Old Bear out."

"You did all that because of your mother?" she breathed.

"I did that because I was tired of watching him get away with it." Alex corrected. "Of getting away with everything. Like he was above being held responsible for the things he'd done."

Norma nodded. This was the Alex Romero she knew. The one who was slightly angry and yet cool headed.

"So, I can't promise you that things will always be perfect for us." he sighed. "I'm a flawed person. I'm still angry at my dad and I'm still afraid of him sometimes."

Alex gave a sad, half smile.

"I'm still bitter about losing my mother the way I did. Still mad at myself for being stupid enough to turn down a full baseball scholarship to a university just because it was the Old Bear's alma mater. Still embarrassed I fell in love so quickly with a girl I barely knew, and got married and divorced in less than a year."

He looked at Norma hopefully.

"When I'm with you though, all that goes away. I feel like I have the chance to start over again. That we can start over again. That we can be happy." he explained.

Norma's vision blurred slightly and she couldn't catch the tears before they escaped her eyes.

"Alex, I need to tell you something else." she sighed. "Something else about me that I never told anyone."

Alex was quite for a while and waited.

"When I was little, my brother and I lived with these people. Our parents left us with them for about a year. They were angry all the time. Always shouting at everything. There were lots of guns and… at the time I didn't understand what was happening. Then, um… then these men came and took us away. There were dogs and smoke. Buildings on fire. People kept calling it the Dunham compound. We only called it the compound." she said with a shaky voice. Her eyes averted away from him.

"We were taken away and we weren't hurt. Other kids, our friends, were. Some were shot by federal agents. Some in the big fire. One friend… the one that was with us that first day the men came… he was killed by one of those big attack dogs. A dog just like Graceland." she admitted.

She looked up at Alex and expected him to be horrified. His expression remained unreadable.

"It's why I was afraid of dogs." she sighed. "The way that animal lunged after Billy." she shivered.

"I know about the Dunham compound raid." he whispered.

"Yeah, it made national news for a while." she huffed. "There's even a great picture on the cover of Time of the main building on fire. I'm only telling you this because… it's like with Caleb, you know? If word got out, it would embarrass you. Like you said this is your home town and I don't want you to be humiliated."

"Norma." he said with difficulty. "I knew you were one of the children rescued from the Dunham raid."

 **I've been getting various feedback about Violet's future in this story. How some do and don't want her in the story as Normero's adopted daughter. She WILL be in the story but she will appear later and very briefly. Then later again and have a larger roll as a teenager. Picture Violet Harman from AHS Murder House. I have this idea that Alex and Violet would have this very amazing friendship. No quite a father/daughter bond, but more like they were best friends in past lives. Especially since Violet and Alex are both old and salty souls.**

 **I just feel like if Violet had been apart of the Bates family, Alex would have gotten along with her and he and Norma would have warmed up to each other much more quickly.**

 **Also, that she would have seen right through Norman's 'Good Boy' exterior. Seen the monster underneath.**


	44. Chapter 44

44.

~ Norma blinked and looked at him skeptically.

"How… how could you know that?" she asked suspiciously. "We were children. Our names were never released to the press."

Alex nodded and decided, since this was the day to confess all secrets, he might as well be honest.

"After Sam put you in the hospital, you were pretty out of it on pain medication, but you said you were at a compound. Said a dog killed your friend when you were little. It concerned me. I ran a standard background check on you from the Sheriff's department-" he explained.

"What?" Norma gasped.

Alex looked up apologetically.

"I run them on almost everyone all the time, Norma." he explained. "It's standard practice with computers now. Just to make sure you were who you said you were. That you weren't wanted in another state or something."

Norma looked hurt my his innocent invasion into her life, but he couldn't let it go at that.

"The standard background search had… a lot of holes in it. A lot of redactions that made no sense." he explained. "I have a buddy in the FBI. I called in a favor and that's how I found out about the Dunham raid."

Norma slipped off the bed and stepped away from him.

"You had the FBI… find out everything about me?" she asked. "Everything?"

"Not everything." Alex amended quickly moving off the bed to stand in front of her. "I didn't know about Caleb and what he did to you. I only found out that your parents moved the family around a lot. What happened at the Dunham compound. That you had left school to have Dylan and divorced John not too long after that."

"What else?" Norma demanded.

Alex felt his stomach become unsettled. He would never understand why he liked to cause so much misery in his own life. Why he had to ruin everything. Why did he even mention anything to her?

He turned and went to the worn, but still serviceable, leather document portfolio Simon had given him when he graduated high school. It had been his during the second world war where Simon had worked as a clerk for the Army. An unassuming thing that Simon had used to carry papers and letters in all over Europe. Alex had used it everyday at the Sheriff's station, much to the annoyance of the Old Bear, who wanted that family heirloom for himself.

He pulled free the thick file Charlotte had given him on Norma Bates.

"Please don't hate me." he said when she snatched it out of his hands. Her lovely face sinking into frown lines as she looked over cold, unfeeling sentences about her families movements over the years."

"Jim Jones?" she asked.

"He was this radical founder of the-"

"I know who Jim Jones was!" Norma snapped in irritation.

She leafed over her life history till she got to her high school years and saw the reports of the social worker who tired to help her. Quickly flipping over again before reaching the final pages of her parents last known location. Alex was thankful he had edited out the pages of the fire where Francine Calhoun thought Violet was inhabited by an evil entity and had to die.

"Caleb has warrants." she said hurtfully. Knowledge about her brother, despite all the pain he'd caused her, seemed to hurt her.

"He has a temper." Alex nodded. "A few bar fights. Drunken arrests."

"He cut off his boss's ear because he was fired last year?" Norma gasped in horror as she read over the arrest report. "He skipped out on bail?"

"They'll catch him." Alex assured her. "They always do. People on the run make stupid decisions. Trust people they shouldn't and they always get caught."

"This was only a few months ago." Norma pointed out.  
"They'll catch him." Alex assured her again.

"What if Caleb comes here?" she asked. Her voice a worried whisper.

"Ask Sam Bates." Alex told her without thinking.

Norma looked up at him in surprise and he regretted sounding so ready to instigate violence against yet another man who fathered her child.

"He's not coming here. He doesn't even know you're here." Alex promised.

Norma didn't look comforted by the idea but she kept looking over the papers till she got to her parents.

"They still live in Florida. Still on disability. Both of them now" she said dully.

"It would seem so." Alex nodded.

Norma looked bitter about the conclusion of her file.

"Never thought I'd be the successful one in the family." she sighed letting the file slap onto her dresser.

"I'm sorry." he insisted. "I never meant to hurt you."

"No detective called you about Violet did they? You found out about her from this." Norma accused dryly. Her head nodding to the file.

"Yes." he admitted. "I only told you about her because… she's family. If it was me, I'd want to know. I only have Simon left now that my mom is gone."

Norma nodded.

"You think I should try to meet her?" she asked. Her thumb nail running along the edge of the file.

"I think that's up to you. We can at least send the adoptive parents a letter. Let them know Violet has a sister out there. They put a lot of effort into finding relatives before proceeding with the adoption." Alex told her.

"I never wanted to be found." Norma said weakly. "Because of Caleb." she clarified.

Alex nodded.

"I'm sorry." he said.

She said nothing. Refused to look at him and still looked sad and angry.

"Norma, I'm sorry." he said again.

"For what?" she said pitifully. Her eyes close to tears.

"For this." he nodded to the file.

"Don't be." she shook her head but still looks troubled. "I never would have found out I have a sister if you hadn't."

~ Dylan and Norman had passed out sometime around midnight while Mary Poppins was playing. Norma and Alex snuck into the living room to investigate the boys in their tent, only to see they were both in a pizza induced coma.

Norman's face smeared with tomato sauce and grease permanently set into her spare sheets.

"Speaking of Jonestown." Norma said dryly at the bodies strewn across her living room. She knelt down to check on them and tuck her youngest son in better. Norman was already outgrowing his pajamas. His thin arms and legs indicating he would be very tall as an adult.

Dylan, as always slept in a huddled position. He'd slept like that, hunched over, since he was a baby, and Norma knew it was out of habit and worry.

"Still alive?" Alex asked when she pulled the blankets over Dylan to. Graceland kept her sentry duty watch over both of them. The big dog settled neatly between the boys as if darling anyone to come and take one of her charges.

"Yes." Norma whispered and she quickly picked up the remains of paper plates and boxes off the floor. She wouldn't be able to sleep knowing they were on the floor all night.

Alex turned off the TV and she could hear the comforting sounds of Norman's little snores and Dylan's heavy breathing.

~ "I always kept this." Norma said with a sad, but genuine smile. She held up a faded blue hair ribbon with lace edging around it.

"My mother went to this dance when she was younger and she wore a blue dress." Norma said as if describing some famous celebrity. "She seemed so happy when she told me that story. I wanted to keep this, so that I could try and think of her that way."

Alex watched Norma carefully wrap the hair ribbon around her hand and look at it affectionally.

"She wasn't happy." Norma admitted. "She was very ill. I don't know exactly what it was, but she was never happy."

Alex looked at the old cigar box Norma had dug out of her closet that contained all the seemingly worthless heirlooms she'd saved from her childhood. The two of them nested back into bed so she could show them to him and tell the story behind each one.

To Alex, it was like the box where Scout and Jem Finch stored their treasures from Boo. Small, objects that no one would give any value to. An expensive looking compact that had a pretty butterfly design on it. Its' mirror inside broken. A small plastic snoopy figure. The kind kids got in fast-food meals. His white plastic fur worn gray now with time.

In a sandwich baggie, Norma had a dozen small plastic unicorns of various colors and in different poses. The plastic they were made of was the kind meant to look like glass and they were a rainbow of magical little horses.

"Caleb got me those." Norma admitted. "I wanted a My Little Pony so bad, but I never got one. So Caleb, whenever he got recycling, would walk to this store that had the good prize machines and spend a quarter on one of these for me every week."

A smile lightened up her whole face as she took out a blue unicorn and looked it over affectionally.

"He used to tell me they were magical. That they would protect me." she said. "I would line them all up under my bed."

Her smile faltering slightly as if the memory of it was slightly tainted now.

Norma's treasured memories were useless old postcards, pressed flowers, broken hair barrettes, keys with no names or homes, and worn, oily crayons. Yet she seemed to have real attachment to all of them. Remembering fondly where they came from and what they meant to her.

Alex nodded to the blue hair ribbon in Norma's hand.

"My mother loved the color yellow." he admitted. "Decorated the whole house with it."

Norma listened but her eyebrow went up in judgment about decorating an entire house in yellow. A grin starting to appear on her face.  
"It was the seventies." Alex told her defensively.

"Oh."

"That's what people **did** in the seventies." he reminded her.

"Okay!" Norma laughed.

"My grandmother tiled the entire bathroom in pink. Even the toilet, sink and bathtub was pink." Alex admitted painfully.

"Why?" Norma giggled. Her eyes dancing merrily.

"She wanted that bathroom to be a ladies room only and knew that the Romero men would never use a pink bathroom." he said in irritation.

"Alex, I really think she had the right idea." Norma smiled. "Did it work?"

"Of course it worked!" Alex laughed. "You see how Simon is. He lets pretty women do anything they want. In the fifties she remodeled the entire bathroom in pink and no man has ever used it."

"She's a genius." Norma sighed pitifully. "It's awful sharing a bathroom with two little boys. Dylan never puts the seat down and Norman has terrible aim."

"I'll talk to them about that." Alex said as she leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder. The cigar box of her childhood memories closed and forgotten for now.

"I was thinking tomorrow, we could drop the boys off with Tess in the evening. Maybe have a night out just you and me. Pick them up in the morning." he murmured with his nose buried in her hair.

"Date night?" she asked.

"Don't you think its' time?" he asked. "A night out without having to be responsible parents?"

She stretched out lazily and Alex felt her body relax into his. The both of them in danger of falling asleep at any second.

"It's been time for a while." she breathed.

"So you'll go on a date with me?" he whispered.

"Sure, Deputy." she sighed before falling asleep.

 **OK. So Date Night will be romantic and sexy and we will see the old car. AKA "LUCY" from the original story. I know Lucy was the name of their daughter in R &R but here it's the name of the old car that belonged to Alex's mother. Also the same model, year and color as the car Janet Leigh drove in the Psycho movie. **


	45. Chapter 45

45.

~ Norma dreamed she was back in time. Lost in the dark, cold warren of her childhood with no escape. Overhead, with thunderous footsteps like monsters, she could hear her parents fighting. Throwing things and shouting. Their constant bickering and blaming each other was intensifying and she was growing scared.

Afraid that the monsters above, the ones she had to depend on everyday, would hurt her. She'd been hiding under the house all day. The heat of summer and the lack of central air indoors had chased her and Caleb under the large old house and into the crawl space. The place was like a dim rabbit's warren made of concrete pillars that were tall and narrow enough so that the children could maneuver easily, and cool thanks to being blocked off by the sun and by the cold ground below.

Norma and Caleb often hid here, even when things weren't so violent in the large abandoned house they called the mansion. The warren was their safe place. A place their mom didn't know they went to and was too afraid to venture in anyway because of the dark, and their father wouldn't have been able to fit.

Often she and Caleb would play games in the warren. The mansion above was old, but huge. Meaning the foundation, their warren, was just as expansive and littered with 'tunnels' to hide.

They would camp here with flash lights and enjoy the cool, damp air. Unafraid of rats or other pests. Anything was better than being above ground.

"So the devil took Stephanie to hell because he was in love with her?" Caleb asked slowly comprehending the story his sister had told him.

Norma had been reading to him a children's illustrated copy of greek mythology she'd borrowed from the library. Her brother could never read very well and had to depend on her to do all the reading when needed. The teachers said it was some kind of learning disability. Their father had shouted that his boy wasn't a retard.

Norma didn't think Caleb was retarded. Far from it. After all, her brother could build anything without looking at instructions. He could see a thing once and replicate it perfectly. Something she could never do. Anyone could read, but how many people could build her a little boat that actually floated in one day? A boat that was almost a nice as the store bought ones other kids had on the lake.

"He wasn't the devil. He was the God of hell and his name was Hades. He fell in love with Persephone and made her his queen." Norma said confidently.

"That was nice of him." Caleb nodded. His hands busy wrapping wire around the radio antenna that they used to listen to music down here. It was hard to get a signal sometimes, but Caleb made it work.

"No, it wasn't!" Norma insisted passionately. "Because her mother was a goddess and missed her and wanted her back. She made the whole world turn to winter because she was so sad."

"So Hades let his wife go?" Caleb asked skeptically. His face becoming sad. "He loved her though."

"She still visits him." Norma assured her brother. "During the spring, Persephone is with her mother. That's why everything is beautiful and has flowers. During the winter, that's when she's in hell with her husband."

"Her husband is a bad man." Caleb nodded thoughtfully. "But she loves him?"

"I guess." Norma shrugged. She was only nine and didn't really understand the whole pomegranate angle and how it could force someone to stay in hell for a few months. She wondered if her own mother had made a similar bargain to stay with their father. An agreement to stay in hell with a bad man. If love had anything to do with it.

The shouting intensified above them and there was a thunderous banging as if their mother's body and fallen on the floor. Her cries of pain clearly echoing through the warren.

~ Norma slowly opened her eyes to the darkness of her bedroom. Her youngest son, Norman, was cuddled tightly against her belly as if trying to mimic being back in the womb.

Sometime in the night, he must have abandoned the living room fort and slipped into the bedroom where she and Alex were sleeping, and stealthily crawled in beside her. His small body hugging hers and she'd subconsciously held him close to her in return. A mother's instinct kicking in and for a second, while still in her sleep induced daze, she could actually believe she was heavily pregnant.

"Norman?" she sighed and ran a hand over her youngest't hair. Still feather soft as he nuzzled his face closer to her belly. She felt Alex stirring behind her. Feel his big feet run over her small ones and knew that his hands would pull on her hips soon.

It was like a dance routine with Alex, his hands always going to her hips so he could magically control her body. Getting her to somehow obey his every command without saying a word. If they were going to start dating like normal people, she wanted him to take her dancing. She was sure he'd be good at it.

"Norman, what are you doing?" she whispered and pushed her youngest son away from her. The little boy was suddenly very strong and unwilling to be pulled away. His face pushing close to her breast now aggressively.

"No." Norman moaned.  
"Norman." She said curtly. "You need to get up."

She moved to get herself up and would drag her youngest out of bed with her if need be. She and Alex had fallen asleep last night without any fanfare, so they hadn't bothered to secure the door, but what if they had been in more of an embarrassing state of undress? What if, one day, she or Alex forgot to secure the bedroom door and Norman came in and saw them?

Her son wouldn't understand. Would he think Alex was hurting her? Would he think the female body was strange? Surely he was old enough now that he could see she was a woman and different from a man.

"Norma?" Alex called with a raspy voice from their bed.

She had been pulling Norman off the bed as delicately as possible. Her son becoming suddenly very heavy and unmanageable now that he was being removed.

"It's okay." she panted and tried to look like everything was fine when Norman started to show signs of a temper tantrum.

"Mom!" Norman started to cry. His little face swelling up and going red.

"He just crawled into the bed with us." Norma said and started to pull him out.

Alex said nothing and watched her having to drag Norman out of their bedroom and back into the living room with Dylan still sleeping.

~ "Norman, what's wrong?" Norma hissed in real annoyance her son had spoiled a potentially romantic early morning alone with Alex. It wasn't easy to negotiate sex with the boys in the house and when the mood was gone, it was usually lost because of the interruption from Norman or Dylan.

Dylan snored softly and rolled over in his sleep. Graceland, awake but herself sleepy this early, just yawned and snoozed again.

"I want to stay with you." Norman complained petulantly. He went to hug Norma fiercely, his thin arms trying lock around her neck so she couldn't get away from him, and she wouldn't let him.

"Norman, we talked about you sleeping on your own." she sighed. "Everyone sleeps in their own bed. Do you want to sleep in your bed? Not in the tent with Dylan?"

"You don't sleep alone." Norman pointed out almost hatefully. "He sleeps with you."

Norma looked behind her to make sure Alex hadn't overheard, but the two of them were the only ones seemingly still awake this early.

"Do you not like Alex?" Norma sighed.

Norman didn't answer.

"You think he's going to take me away from you?" she whispered.

Norman didn't answer but she thought she saw an angry glint in his eyes. Eyes that were the same color blue as her own. Eyes that seemed to change color and become as brilliant as an enchanted sea.

"No one could ever take me away from you or your brother." Norma said.

"I want to stay with you." Norman complained.  
"No." Norma said stubbornly. "You're a big boy and you're going to sleep on your own."

"Mother." Norman cried softly.

Norma felt her heart break softly and for a moment wanted to pull him close to her again. Wanted to fit his little body close to her belly like she'd found him that morning. As if she was still pregnant with him and she could protect him from all evils of the world.

"Lie back down." she nodded to the bedding next to Dylan and the dog. "Alex and I have the day off and all of us can sleep in as late as we want for once."

"Mother." Norman said again petulantly.

"Norman." she said in a tone that meant no more arguments would be heard.

Her son looked murderous, but complied at last. Norma tucking him in and kissed him softly on the cheek. She glanced at the wall clock that said it was only five in the morning.

~ "Everything okay?" Alex asked not bothering to raise his head up when Norma returned to bed. He had heard the scraping sound of her putting the chair under the door knob so that they would have no more visitors.

"We need to get a lock on the door." Norma sighed for an answer as soon as her slight body had settled into bed beside him.

"What happened?" he asked. Already knowing that her youngest had climbed into bed with them and refused to leave.

"Norman… just…" she sighed. "You're right. He has to learn to sleep on his own. Dylan was always able to sleep on his own. Even as a newborn."

"Every kid is different." Alex offered. He hated to back peddle on this issue. He didn't like the idea of Norman sleeping in the bed with them at his age, but Norma seemed more annoyed with it than normal just now.

"What if he'd walked in on us?" she'd whispered.

Alex laughed. He couldn't help it.  
"It's not funny." she whispered in shock that he wouldn't take such a fear seriously.

His hand went automatically to her hip as if drawn to her by a habit he couldn't break. Pulling her pelvis closer to his till he could feel the sweet warmth of her body touching his. Her leg running over his own and her breasts, clad in an innocent looking night dress resisting being drawn in. Her upper body pulling away from him out of sheer spite and stubbornness where her lower half, the only half that really mattered at times, was more than happy to give in.

Indeed, together, their hips had already started a gentle rocking rhythm. A wave like back and forth as Norma glared at him. His fingers gently tugging on the blue ribbon on her matronly nightdress that cinched her collar closed. Hiding her breasts from him.

"If he'd walked in…" Alex whispered. His voice becoming slightly labored as the blue ribbon gave way and the white fabric slipped off her shoulders and exposed delicate flesh.

"I guess I would have to explain the facts of life to him a little sooner than expected." Alex admitted. His lips devouring her skin that smelled like fresh soap.

"You would do that?" Norma panted softly. Her own breathing coming hard when his hands went to pull down her panties. Their tempo of moving and thrusting hips was picking up speed and Romero was unapologetic about his needful erection pressing itself into her before they were fully unclothed.

Judging from her response of heavy breathing and moving faster, she seemed to enjoy promise of what he would do to her.

"Give them… give them the talk?" she clarified breathlessly after he'd pulled off her panties and left her defenseless to his needs.

"Of course." he said. His body easily rolling on top of her and pinning her down lazily. Norma's eyes glittering like gem stones in the pale light of early morning. The house was still and quite and they could tell everyone was sleeping.

She gave him a soft smile and Romero brushed away a lose tendril of blond hair from her face.

"It's what father's are supposed to do." he said simply. His hips rocking boldly against hers, not penetrating her because of his own clothing, but enjoying the feel of contact. That and watching the expression on her face when she realized what he'd said.

"Alex?" she whispered softly. Her eyes filling up with tears of joy and surprise as he ground into her and made her body move with each thrust.

He refused to comment further. Instead he only kissed her, stripped her of her night dress, found the condom from his wallet and wordlessly rolled it over his erection.

Surprising even himself at how much larger his member was since he'd last thought about its' size.

She seemed to have noticed to. Her face distorting in slight discomfort as he mounted her and pushed himself in without another word. Her nails raking across his bare back so hard, it became a brief wrestling match of restraining her while she attempted to both injure and buck him off.

The both of them trying desperately to stay quite as he moved forcefully in and out of her. His hard wired male need delighting in seeing the beautiful female body so helpless and soft under him. Breasts so tender being moved with each unforgiving thrust and pull of his own body.

"Alex!" she cried pitifully. Her voice one of pure joy and he could feel her inner walls contracting hard against his member. Keeping him locked inside her until her orgasam let him go.

"I love you." He whispered into her ear when she growled a profanity he'd never heard her say before. Her legs were trembling and her hips were still trying to buck him off like a wild horse would a rider.

She moaned desperately as is she were possessed. His beautiful, angelic Norma gone and replaced by a creature controlled only by lust.

And then, like magic, her orgasam released her and she came back to him. Her breathing slowing, but still she was panting like she'd been running. He released her when his lover posed no more physical threat to him. Her hips still moving with his, but she was harmless now that the beast within had been tamed.

Alex pulled her up onto his lap and let her straddle him. Enjoyed the view of how beautiful Norma truly was as she rode him. Her face looking slightly uncomfortable again at having all of his member stuffed inside of her.

Her rhythm changing and slowing down to accommodate his size so she wouldn't hurt herself. Alex, not one to miss an opportunity, selfishly grabbed her breasts as they bounced and moved before him. Her body was his play thing for this moment.

"God you're beautiful." he gasped helplessly as he felt his own body start to lose control. His hands going to her butt and angrily squeezing her firm backside until she cried out softly.

Happy that he'd caused such a reaction, Alex pushed her hips down and forced her to ride him harder.

"Please." she panted weakly as her breasts jiggled and bounced in helpless abandonment. She did nothing to stop him. Instead seemed to give into another orgasam the rippled through her body. Her eyes rolling back and her jaw going slack as she let him take her. Allowed her body to ride him just as he demanded.

Alex feeling jealous of the advantage women had of multiple orgasam. Norma seeming especially capable of climaxing quickly and often. Perhaps it was just normal for a healthy woman in her twenties. He liked to think she came so easily, and so often, for him and for him alone.

Seeming to have to remember to breathe as she took from him every last ounce of satisfaction.

Alex felt himself release and start to slow his aggressive mistreatment of her body. His beautiful lover, the woman he loved more than anything, still seemed to be coming down from her own euphoria.

"Come back to me." he whispered. His hands pulling at hers but Norma seemed slightly lost. Her focused confused even as his rhythm slowed and his erection softened inside her.

"Baby." he panted and realized he was thirsty and starving.

"Alex." she said and finally seemed to come back to her senses. Allowing him to pull her on top of his chest.

"You okay?" he asked. Suddenly worried he'd been a little too forceful and rough with her.

"I want a baby." she murmured so softly he almost didn't hear.


	46. Chapter 46

46.

~ Norma was asleep as soon as he gently curled her back into bed. Her slender frame looking particularly fragile as he covered her up for warmth.

Alex isn't at all phased by what she had said about having a baby. She had said something before on the subject at Tom's house. Although again, she'd been half asleep and hadn't mentioned it afterwards.

Alex wasn't going to bring it up himself because he suspected that particular moment wasn't the best time to discuss planning for a family of their own. Hell, they hadn't even talked about getting married yet. Norma wasn't even taking his offer to move in together seriously. He wasn't foolish enough to believe that she could actually want another child.

Still.

Still, the idea of his own son or daughter, a little person that belonged to him. Someone that looked like him. Looked liked him and would have his name and his own family history. Someone who would be the next "Little Bear."

Alex snapped himself out of the idea and refused to think about it. Pinning all your hopes and dreams on such a new relationship with a woman was a terrible idea. Especially if all your hopes and dreams involved her giving you children.

You were lucky enough to have whatever you had in life. To ask for more was to invite trouble.

He looked back at Norma as he quickly got dressed in a simple set of running clothes. It was almost dawn now and he felt a repressed need for exercise that might relieve some of these troublesome thoughts.

Norma was sleeping so soundly, he could hear that tell-tell snore that softly rose up from her side of the bed.

Alex finished dressing, grabbed his running shoes and silently crept out of the bedroom, making sure to pick up Graceland's leash.

~ He was used to running in all sorts of weather, but the six miles on the wet sand of the beach felt more like an obstacle course than a run on a flat surface. The sand seeming to want to melt in as he ran and caused him to want lose traction and slow down. It was exactly why he ran it. Why all the runners ran on the beach at low tide this time of the morning. It was a better workout. What normally took a good runner an hour to run the six mile stretch of the wet beach, took Alex over two that morning.

He'd vomited halfway though and felt like his heart was about to explode. Even Graceland had slowed down a bit where she'd normally been ready to run all six miles with him without the need to stop. They had normally run together every morning before Alex had started spending so much time with Norma that summer. The two of them eating well and enjoying the relaxing feeling of being in her home.

"We've been getting spoiled." Alex panted slightly at the dog. "Starting to slack off."

The dog looked at him with an expression that implied she was missing home. Norma's home. A place where she knew good food would be and where there was none of this stupid running on a cold wet beach in sand that her feet sank into.

"We're coming back tomorrow morning." Alex warned the dog who refused to look at him. "We're getting back into shape."

He managed to finish the six miles with a brisk jog before the tide coming in and the sand giving him too mush resistance.

~ He managed to arrive back at the house on Pine Valley Lane just as the boys were waking up.

"Is your mother still asleep?" Alex asked Dylan who was lazily looking around the dismembered living room that was their camp sight.

"I think so." Dylan said. "Why are you so sweaty?"

"I want you boys to clean all this up and get dressed. Don't wake up your mother. She's very tired and she needs to rest." Alex said as an answer.

Graceland wanted nothing more to do with Alex. She allowed him to wipe off her muddy paws before coming into the house and she settled herself on a special blanket Norma had put in the kitchen for her to use. Clearly waiting for her breakfast of bacon and eggs.

"Not gonna happen." Alex warned his partner.

The dog was quick to show him a slight snarl and flash of frightening teeth.

"Look I already talked to Norman, and she's not gonna give you any more bacon, so you can just forget it." Alex said to the dog.

Graceland, not one to be treated like that by her partner, continued to show Alex her teeth, before emitting a low growl.

He ignored the dog and went into the bathroom while the boys went to work putting the living room back in order. He knew Dylan and Norman well enough that they would do as they were told. Norma ran a tight ship when it came to her two sons and he respected that about her. It was probably easier to lead a platoon of men into battle than to get two little boys to behave.

~ It felt good to shower and clean up after an early morning of furious activity and then running. He was still hungry, but his energy was at least spent for now. He didn't feel as repressed and stifled as he did that morning.

There was this feeling that he was powerless to do something and he hated that feeling. It was the same feeling he had when Maggie told him about Keith Summers. When Norma said she wouldn't sign a restraining order against her husband. When his mother refused to leave his father not matter how much he tried to persuade her otherwise.

Alex felt the shower curtain move as someone opened and closed the door to the bathroom. He saw a shadow creeping silently forward. Growing larger as it moved closer to him.

Not wanting the intruder to surprise him, naked and helpless in the shower, Alex lazily stepped back and pulled the shower curtain around to see Norma had crept in hoping to catch him off guard.

"Oh, you scared me!" she snapped with her hand guilty clutching the shower curtain on the other side.

"I scared you?" Alex grinned.

Norma looked annoyed that her little trick had backfired on her, but even when she was angry, she still looked hopelessly beautiful.

"What are you doing up?" Alex asked. "I thought you'd be a little worn out after this morning."

"I woke up alone and found the living room was already cleaned up. Why are the boys getting dressed?" Norma asked suspiciously.

"I need to take them to the hardware store." Alex explained turning off the flow of water, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his waist.

"I'll get dressed to." Norma said brightly.

"Kind of a boys only outing."Alex said pulling open the shower curtain to see Norma roll her eyes in slight amusement.

"I get it." she said with a smile that turned up her lips on one side. "Dylan really likes all that you know. He likes going with you to run your little man errands."

"Man errands?" Alex grinned and pulled Norma closer to him. She was wearing that soft, oh so famine blue robe he liked. The kind of thing that wasn't flashy, but that hugged her body beautifully and managed to still look modest.

"You know what I mean!" Norma laughed. Her eyes dancing brightly with happiness.

"No, I don't know what you mean." Alex pretended to be innocent of what she was saying. "What are 'Man Errands'?"

"Well, going to the hardware store, or having my brakes checked. Teaching him to change the oil or a tire. He really likes all that stuff." Norma explained.  
"All that stuff is really important." Alex nodded. "Wish Norman liked it more."

"Norman would rather stay here with me and bake." she shrugged. "He's always been like that. Maybe he'll be a chef one day."

Alex had a brief idea about what his own father would say about Norman. How such behavior would indicate the potential for the boy to turn gay. How the Old Bear wouldn't have tolerated it for a second if he thought Alex was becoming too effeminate. Maybe that was why he'd forced his only child to learn to fight and shoot and hunt. To play hardball and run six miles in less than an hour. To be a man and not stay at home with his mother and enjoy something nice like baking a cake.

Alex shook his head at the bitterness he still felt at the Old Bear.

"What to do you need to get from the hardware store?" Norma asked. She'd wrapped her arms around his neck and he'd willingly leaned in to kiss her sweetly on the lips.

"A lock for the bedroom door." he responded plainly.

Norma blushed slightly and avoided eye contact.

Alex took a moment to enjoy the look of embarrassment on her face. They were both consenting adults but she was the type of woman who felt sex belonged only in the bedroom. A notion he appreciated about her just like he appreciated the way she dressed and the way she raised her children.

"This morning was nice." he prompted. His body pushing into hers till they were leaning against the wall.  
"Yes." she admitted shyly. She swallowed hard, her eyes avoiding his. "It was."

She tried to maneuver away from him but he refused to let her escape.

"Alex." she breathed with a nervous laugh.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

"About what?"

Her face completely innocent.

"About what you said." he nodded. "About you wanting to have another baby."

"I never said that." she looked away from him and tried to move away. Alex keeping her pinned close to him with ease.

"Yes, you did. Right before you fell asleep." he reminded her calmly.

"Alex, it's just… it was just in the moment. It's just something people say." she tried to explain.

"It's NOT just something people say, Norma!" Alex said more force than he meant to.

Norma blinked and looked ready to cry. Her chest heaving up slightly as she took a deep breath.

Alex had to count to ten before he could trust himself to speak again.  
"Is that why you haven't gone on birth control?" he asked gently. He had to remind himself to keep his voice soft for her. "You kept saying you were going to in the beginning."

"No." Norma said a way that Alex knew was a lie. She made too much of an effort to look him in the eye. Her voice was too serious.

"I… I would never do anything to try and trap you, Alex." she said carefully. Her normal voice coming back. "To try and make you stay with me." she clarified.

"I never thought it would be a trap, Norma." Alex whispered. His hands around her waist loosened and he granted her some space to breathe.

"But, I wouldn't." Norma said with a shaky voice. "I wouldn't do that to us."

"I know." Alex nodded.

She looked unsettled by the sense that there had been some breech of trust between them.

"Norma, do you want another baby?" he asked.  
"Don't be ridiculous." she smiled and refused to look at him.

He stepped closer to her. Knowing how she responded when his hips pressed against hers in just the right way. When his breath hit that special part of her neck and when she felt safe and protected by him.

Her body instantly weakened into his. Her arms latching onto his bare shoulders as his lips explored down her neck and then up again. He felt her legs separate slightly and realized she had just thrown on a robe and neglected underwear that morning. That they could easily be naked together right here and now.

Alex leaned his hips into hers, bringing her leg up at the same time.

"Oh." she panted, as his pelvis ground into her in just the right way. Alex was reminded again about the unfairness of the female orgasam. How he'd believed multiple orgasams were just a myth until he met Norma and discovered first hand that they were real.

Even now, she seemed to derive a great deal more satisfaction from this than he did. The towel around his waist creating a barrier and keeping him from doing any real damage.

She moaned slightly when he rested her leg over his hip and exposed her breasts by slipping open her robe. His lover enjoying her second morning satisfaction not realizing she was falling in a trap.

"I love you." he whispered in her ear. His lips running over her neck in the way he knew she liked.

She grasped hard on his arms and her breathing came fast.

"I love you to." she panted hotly. Her face distorting slightly as pleasure took her over.

"You love me?" he asked. His hand dipping down between her legs and rubbing her ruthlessly.

Norma gave a sharp intake of breath as he tickled her clitoris without mercy.

"You love me?" he demanded again as she squirmed under his cruelty.

"Yes." she whimpered and tried to buck her hips away instinctively.

He increased his handiwork over her growing wetness and enjoyed seeing her in a mixture of bliss and agony.

"You want to give me a baby?" he asked quickly.

"Yes!" she responded with enthusiasm.

Alex stopped his torments. Stopped his abuse and allowed her to recover her senses. He gently brought her leg back down and kindly closed her robe back up so she'd be covered.

Norma seemed dazed and needed to rest her head on his shoulder so she wouldn't collapse.  
"You tricked me." she accused childishly.

"I got you to tell me the truth." he corrected.

"No… I…" she searched for the words to take back all she had said.

"We're not married yet." Alex said saving her from the embarrassment. "I'm not… we have to be married first, Norma. I'm old fashioned that way."

"I…" Norma sighed. She looked more winded that Alex had after his run.

"I'm going to go get dressed. Why don't you take a shower and put on something nice? I think it's time I took you and the boys out. All four of us." he said.

"In public?" Norma asked as if he was joking.  
"Yeah." Alex shrugged. His skin still stinging where she had dug her nails into his shoulders a moment ago. "Plenty of people have seen us together already. Seen me out with the boys. It's about time we make it more official."

"What about…" Norma started to ask and shook her head.

She didn't have to finish. They both knew what she meant.

"We can talk about it later." Alex promised.


	47. Chapter 47

47.

~ "We left Mother at home." Norman said in a sulky voice as Alex lifted him into the shopping cart.

"Your mom likes to have some time alone." Alex told the little boy as Dylan fidgeted to run over to a demonstration area where a woodworker was showing a small crowd how to plane a proper edge.

The woodworker talked in a long boring monotone that seemed to be inherent to all the shop teachers that Alex had ever had. Wood shop or auto shop, the instructors were always the same cookie cutter type of man.

"What's he building?" Dylan asked standing on tiptoe to get a better view.

"Looks like a deck." Alex said helping Norman to sit back down.  
"Can we watch? We can build mom a deck. She needs one." Dylan said hopefully.

"No, we have to get a new doorknob and a few other things." Alex said.

He'd taken off the doorknob to their bedroom that morning before leaving so he could show Dylan the right way to find the perfect fit. Rather than find it himself, something his own father would have done, Alex pretended he couldn't find the proper knob with a lock on it without Dylan's help. The little boy searching carefully for a long time for pictures of a key and plates that perfectly matched the knob from his mother's door.

"This one?" Dylan said uneasily. Clearly uncertain that it was a proper match. Norman looked bored with their outing. He wanted to be at home with his mother and Graceland. The dog had shown no interest at all with going to the hardware store after the morning run. She had pretended she couldn't hear Alex when he called her to come with him. Instead choosing to stay with Norma in the hopes of a treat.

"Let's see." Alex said comparing the fit.

Dylan looked from the old doorknob to the new one.

"I think you found it." Alex said. "Good job."

The little boy smiled proudly and clutched his new find to his chest.

"Now I need you to pick out a good tool kit for you to use." he said.

"For me?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah, you need to help me install it." Alex told him.

Dylan took much more time picking out a simple tool kit for himself. Alex had shown him a selection of basics that would be appropriate for a him.

"A good starter kit." he reminded the child.

"Deputy Romero." came a voice from behind him while Alex knelt down beside Dylan.

Alex turned and stood up to see the imposing figure of Nick Ford pushing a cart down the aisle. He instinctively pushed Dylan behind him and wished he could somehow maneuver Norman out of sight as well.

Nick Ford was the kind of man who kept to himself and didn't rock the boat, but he still ran the drug business here in White Pine Bay. He was still dangerous. Alex wasn't ever aware that a man as high up on the food chain as Nick Ford knew his name.

"It is Romero. Isn't it? Alex Romero?" Nick Ford said in a kind and congenial way.

Alex hesitated for a moment, swallowed, and said yes.

"I knew your father when he was Sheriff. He was a good man. Shame he went down such a dark path." Nick Ford said as if he hadn't been personally linked to all the dirty dealings the Old Bear was involved with. Alex had worked with the DEA trying to get evidence on Nick Ford. Nothing would ever stick. No witnesses would ever come forward and even now, Alex was a little intimidated. Especially with the two boys here.

"Yes." Alex said at last.

"Deputy, I didn't know you had children." Nick Ford said nodding to Norman in the shopping cart and Dylan who peered out from behind Alex.

"It's best to keep work and home life separate." Alex shrugged feeling a ripple of anxiety run down his back side.

"That it is." Nick Ford said with a nod. "I have a daughter of my own. Blair. She lives with her mother here. Perhaps you've met her."

"Can't say I have. I'm sure she stays out of trouble." Alex said with an uneasy smile.

Nick Ford didn't seem to appreciate the joke.

"I'm sure she does, Deputy." he said coldly.

Nick Ford turned to Norman in the shopping cart. The little boy was already cranky and wasn't in the mood for this man today.

"And what's your name, son?" he asked Norman.

"Go away!" Norman shouted.

Alex stepped closer to the shopping cart and pulled it towards him.  
"We should be getting him home." he said.

Nick Ford seemed to think Norman Bates was very funny. He pointed a finger at the small child and grinned like he was looking at a favorite grandchild.

"I like him, Alex. Do you mind if I call you Alex?" he smiled.

"No, it's fine." Alex sighed.

"Now isn't he that child from the newspaper? The one who's father you had to kill?" Nick Ford asked coldly.

Alex felt his patience with this man was at its' end. He didn't care anymore who Nick Ford was and what he ran. He locked eyes with the older man and glared at him. Both of them realizing what this was really about.

Alex smirked a little.

"Pray I won't have to do it again, Nick." he said easily. He turned to Dylan who had been looking a little frightened of the tall man who wore a leather coat this late in summer. "Come on, Son. Time to go home." he said.

~ "I don't like that man." Norman said petulantly when Alex strapped him in the car seat and Dylan buckled up next to him.

"I don't like that man either, Norman." Alex agreed.

"Who was he?" Dylan asked.

"Someone who was rude." Alex said. "Let's not tell your mother about him. You know how she hates rude people."

"Mother, says it's free to have good manners." Norman offered helpfully.

"Mom said good manners are free and they have great value." Dylan corrected.

"Your mother is right." Alex said as he watched Nick Ford exit the hardware store on his way to his own car.

~ Norma finished getting dressed as she listened to her two men putting a new doorknob with a lock on her bedroom door.

"Very good." Alex said as Dylan helped him at a task that didn't seem to need much help. She surpassed a smile at the fact he was doing all this to boost the child's self confidence. The fact that he'd even gone so far as to purchase Dylan is own small tool kit had brought Norma close to tears when she saw it.

She had locked herself in the bathroom to change as it got closer to five o'clock and wanted to surprise Alex with a freshly bought summer dress. It was a white vintage sleeveless A line dress, but with lovely little blue scenery checkered tastefully over it. Norman had been with her when she'd been in the dress shop and he'd grabbed at the fabric and refused to let go.

At first she wasn't going to buy it. It had been a little pricy, but it was the last one left and it was in her size. It had to mean something. When she put it on, it felt like a second skin. She felt she could wear this dress for any occasion. Formal or casual.

So when Alex told her to dress nice, she knew she had to wear this.

"Norma!" Alex called.

"Mom!" Dylan cried excitedly.

Norma was putting on her lipstick in the bathroom mirror when her men started to call for her to come and see the new lock. She smiled at her reflection and raced out the door.

She didn't miss Alex being taken aback by her in the blue and white dress. Her sharp red lipstick making her look far more pin up worthy than normal. His excitement for the doorknob was forgotten when he laid eyes on her and she enjoyed watching him look her over as if entranced by the simple fabric that hugged her body perfectly.

She pretended she didn't notice how good she look.

"What is it?" she asked Dylan.

"We put a new doorknob on!" Dylan said. "Look! It has a key!"

"You did this?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah!" Dylan nodded. "Alex helped." he clarified.

Norma looked at Alex who still seemed a little taken aback by her in the new dress.  
"Well, thank you, Alex." she said coyly.

"Oh… um… you, you're welcome." he stuttered. He nodded up and down at her dress. "You look nice."

"Oh, this? I hope it's okay." she asked.

"No, it's nice." he said quickly.

"Boys, why don't you get washed up and dressed?" she asked.

"Why?" Dylan asked.

"Just do it." Norma ordered.

She and Alex exchanged little smiles as the two boys sulked off to their room to change into better clothes for their evening out.  
"So where are we going?" Norma asked.

"Tom and Tess have invited us out to a very nice garden party." Alex said. "It's being hosted by some important people in town. A lady named Christine Helden and her brother George."

"Garden party?" Norma said skeptically. She wasn't sure about being around important people. Alex seemed to have read her face and shook his head to reassure her.

"It's going to be fine. We won't have to stay long and this is just the kind of place we need to be seen together. Dylan and Norman will be going to school with a lot of the kids that will be there." he said.

"I'm not good around society people, Alex." she reminded him.

"Me either." he told her. "But Tom wants me there to go to these sort of things. He wants me to be more sociable with these younger, more educated voters. Christine and her brother George have a lot of friends in this town who have a lot of connections. It's important I make a good impression."

If he was trying to relieve her anxiety, it wasn't working.

"Okay." Norma sighed.

"I'm sure Sybil will be there." he offered. "She never misses a free buffet or a chance to bad mouth the rich to their faces."

"Oh." Norma said in a numb voice.

Alex leaned in and kissed her before he went into their bedroom to change.

~ Alex had undersold the Helden's Garden Party. Norma had thought it would be a small gathering with food and drinks. Not a fully catered dinner with an open bar and a fireworks display at the end.

She pulled her baby blue cardigan closer around her chest and wished she had dressed a little better. Alex had clasped her hand more firmly so she couldn't escape when Sybil had waved them down. Her free hand holding a glass of champagne and already she'd devised where the best food trays were.

"Little Bear, Norma, glad you're here." Syllabi said and chugged her champagne rather than sipped it. "Tell the waiters to bring me out some more of those mini flatbread things with the humus. I need more bread to soak up all this alcohol I've been putting away."

"Sybil maybe you should slow down." Alex offered. "It's not even seven o'clock yet."

"Little Bear, when there is free booze and the host lets the expensive stuff out first, you drink it!" Sybil told him curtly.

She turned to Norma with a kind face.

"Norma, dear, you like absolutely perfect." she patted Norma's hand as though she were Graceland. "Very lovely today. You take good care of my Little Bear."

"Okay." Norma said and tried not to laugh.

She spotted Norman and Dylan racing after a some children on the expansive lawn. Norman chasing a pretty blond girl who seemed all too willing to let him catch her. She smiled at the idea of her youngest having fun today.

"Bradly Martin!" an attractive woman from the deck called out to the little girl. "You stay away from that strange little boy!"

Norma's face fell at this snobbish woman calling her son strange.

"That's Amelia Martin. Jerry Martian's wife." Alex whispered.

"Amelia Martian is a real bitch." Norma said frankly.

"You'll get no argument from me." Alex agreed. "Now, let's play nice with the other grown ups."

~ It hadn't been all bad. Christine was a charming and energetic hostess. Norma had never met anyone with such a need to be positive in her life. Of course, if she had all the money Christine had, she might be deliriously happy to.

"Mike and Rose just had a baby." Christine said when the newborn in the next room let out a wail that the new mother couldn't seem to get under control. "She's trying. Just ignore her."

"Oh." Norma glanced over at the stressed out new mother who looked embarrassed that her baby was doing what all babies do. Rose was a bit frazzled looking and was trying to rock the newborn to sleep.

"I'm so sorry." Rose said when Norma approached them with a smile. "I should have left her at home but the sitter cancelled at the last second and Mike really needed to come."

"Have you tried rubbing her feet?" Norma asked. She pulled open the swaddled blanket and took off the booted feet of the crying baby. With gentle and experienced hands, Norma rubbed and manipulated the newborns feet with a soothing rhythm until, like magic, the crying stopped.

"How did you do that?" Rose breathed as if Norma had done some kind of witchcraft. She kept rubbing the baby's feet and realized the whole room had stopped and was watching her parlor trick.

"Oh, it's something I learned for the boys. Rubbing their feet would always put them to sleep." she whispered as she watched the baby doze off and start to breath slow, steady breaths. She kept rubbing gentle circles around the baby's feet and heels until she was sure the newborn was asleep and wouldn't wake up before she risked stopping.

"That's amazing!" Christine whispered.

"You can talk in a normal voice." Norma said at full volume. "She's out."

A murmur of laughter echoed though the room. The baby slept on.

"Oh, thank you so much." Rose breathed.

"You should try and rest to." Norma nodded. "Sleep when she does."

"You can crash in our guest room." Christine offered brightly and guided Rose and the baby to the guest room down the hall.

"That was impressive." Sybil told her as she stumbled next to her. "Real baby whisperer. So when are you and Little Bear gonna have some cubs?"

"I think they just brought out a new tray of champagne, Sybil." Alex swooped in and guided the older woman away from Norma.

The small, aged gargoyle looked greedily at the waiter and quickly left them in favor of more libations.

"You wouldn't think a woman her size could drink that much." Norma mused as Alex took her hand and pulled her outside.

"Sybil has always been full of surprises." he said. "But so are you, it seems."

"Oh the foot thing?" she grinned at him as they escaped the party and found a private spot on the grass to sit and be alone for once.

They watched the children racing around and playing an endless game of tag in front of them.

"That had always worked on Dylan." she remembered. "He was a good baby. So was Norman."

She looked around the pristine property the stretched on for miles of perfectly manicured lawns and tree lines to insure privacy.

"It's so beautiful here." she decided.

"Yeah." Alex agreed. "Thanks for coming with me. For being the perfect date. It makes me look good."

"Oh, I make you look good?" she teased.

"Well, you don't make me look bad." he smiled.

Norma was about to say something sarcastic when she noticed a woman looking at them from the terrace. She had red hair and was wearing a bright red dress and unflattering red lipstick. Her face pulled into an angry scowl as she watched them.

"Alex?" she whispered. "Don't look, but there's a strange woman glaring at us."

"Where?" he asked.

"Over your right shoulder." Norma whispered. She pretended not to have seen the angry looking red head who glared daggers at them sitting peacefully on the grass. She hadn't ever noticed this woman before and wondered why she was staring at her so hatefully.

"What's her problem?" Norma whispered as Alex casually glanced to his right.

He took a sharp intake of breath and sat up a little straiter. His posture blocking Norma from the strange woman's intense glare.

"Its' nobody." he said.

"Her name is nobody?" Norma asked.

Alex closed his eyes and shook his head.

"She… she was just someone I used to see before I met you." he clarified. "It's over and it's been over for a long time. It wasn't anything real."

"Oh." Norma said. "Pink socks."

"Pink socks." he nodded.

She looked down at the pattern of blue and white on her dress. The red headed woman, despite her ugly expression was strikingly pretty. Her dress was well made to.

"Norma?" Alex said. "I'm with you. I've been with you for months now. I want to be with you."

"I know." she said.  
"We all have a past." he said.

"No, I know." she shook her head feeling foolish.

She nodded towards pink socks.

"Does she know its' over? I mean, she looks pretty mad."

"She's the one who dumped me." Alex told her. "I didn't know Rebecca would be here. She normally stays away from these kinds of things."

"Rebecca." Norma repeated.

"Let's not do this." Alex said calmly.

"You're right." she sighed and smiled. "You're right. You're with me."

"I'd always choose you over her." he clarified.

Norma blushed and smiled as his fingers laced in hers.


	48. Chapter 48

48.

~ "My father was mayor when the crash of '29 hit." Sybil was saying. She'd sobered up a bit once dinner had been served and everyone had started eating carbohydrates freely.

"I was still in grade school, but I remember mother sold off her diamonds to some place in New York so that there would be plenty of food in the church seller for needy that Christmas." she said.

Norma had been quietly listening to Sybil recount her family history here in White Pine Bay. She hadn't realized the old woman had roots that ran so deeply. That her family was so important and molded the town in its' infancy.

"Papa said that she looked much younger without all those decorations on her anyway." Sybil shrugged with a little grin. "I never remember mother wearing any other jewelry but her wedding band for the rest of her life. I don't even wear the real stuff."

She ran a hand over the long strand of pearls that Norma now had to assume were fake.

"I didn't know your dad was mayor." Norma said as the other adults at the table were now sleepy with being overfed and the kids were growing restless and wanting to go home.

"Oh, yes." Sybil nodded. "Back then, Oregon was an outlaw state and we had no term limit on mayors. Papa was mayor from Prohibition until Pearl."

"What does that mean?" Norma asked.

Sybil looked surprised.

"From 1920 until 1941." the old woman clarified. "After the attack at Pearl Harbor, where my brother died on the Arizona, Papa was never the same."

"I'm sorry." Norma told her.

"Well, war does that to a person. You can ask Simon. How is the old dog anyway?" Sybil turned to Alex.

Norma glanced at Alex who had been sitting beside her throughout dinner and had managed to stay quite.

"Simon is fine." he told her cooly.

"Simon is really the one to talk to about war. He was captured by the Nazis and held for three years." Sybil told them.

Norma strained up to hear more, but Alex cut in.

"We don't need to rehash the past." he said.

The old gargoyle didn't seem to mind being scolded and simply helped herself to some more champagne.

~ "You never talked about your time in the service." Norma said as she and Alex walked outside after dinner. There was talk about a fireworks display and everyone was leaving the confines of the house and going outside where the heat of summer was chased away by a cold breeze rushing over the party guests.

Norma thought the spring and summers here were fast and not warm at all.

"Not much to tell." Alex said watching all the people. Norma noticed he kept his eye out for a red dress.

This Rebecca person was still at the party. Still occasionally shooting them haughty looks of superiority as she clung fiercely to the arm of a very confident man who obviously didn't care about her.

The man was dressed nicely, seemed popular among the other guests, but he didn't bother to look at Rebecca. Norma got the impression that Rebecca was just an after thought to him. A thing that was no more important than any fashion accessory. Something pretty and easy to replace.

She felt a little sorry for Rebecca after that idea entered her mind. Alex never looked at Norma like that. Alex never looked at her as if she were replaceable or a burden to him.

He looked at her with fascination, lust, amusement and occasional irritation. Never as something to be tolerated.

"You were in the gulf?" Norma prompted as they walked out onto the grass. The kids were still running around the large back yard and enjoying the last of the day's sunlight.

"Yes." Alex admitted. "It was uneventful."

"How so?" Norma asked.  
"It was uneventful, Norma." Alex insisted and guided her to get a better view of the fireworks.

"Bradly!" came a woman's shout and Norma jumped and turned in alarm.

"I told you to stay away from that little boy!" the woman shouted angrily again in the twilight.

Alex sighed and went towards the sudden commotion of concerned parents who swarmed around two kids.

"Norman!" Norma cried in frustration when she recognized one of the children was hers. Seeing the blue shirt she'd put her youngest son into earlier that day.

~ "Amelia, calm down." A thin young man with sandy brown hair was saying when Alex plucked Norman up and away from the mob of people.

"I will not calm down, **George**!" Amelia Martian shouted. "That little boy," she pointed dramatically at Norman who Alex was holding protectively. "Was kissing my daughter. Right on the mouth, **George**!"

"Amelia!" Christine sighed with her big smile. "They're little kids. It's not like they can get into any real trouble. How old is he? Three?"

"Norman is three." Norma said numbly rubbing a hand over her son's back to comfort him. Her youngest looked upset that so money people were angry at him. Especially this mean woman who yelled at him.

"I know who you are." Amelia Martian accused scornfully at Norma. She would have been an attractive woman, who's investment in cosmetic surgery had been worth every penny. Just now, however, she looked especially ugly.

"I know all about you and you're boys. How you're on welfare and how deputy Romero here had to shoot your husband because you were too stupid to divorce him." Amelia spat.

"Amelia." the thin man named George didn't like the way things had now taken an ugly turn. "Amelia, you've had too much to drink."

"Oh go to hell, George!" Amelia snapped hatefully. "Remind me again why your wife left your pussy ass!"

"Since we're bringing up people's past here…" came a deep drawling voice from the crowd.

Norma looked behind her and, like Moses parting the red sea, a tall man in a black leather jacket stepped into the circle and looked over the key players with an amused look on his face. She had no idea who this man was, but judging by the hushed tension from the crowd, everyone else did.

The tall man in his late thirties looked at Amelia critically.

"I seem to remember you worked a few shifts at the landing strip before you married Jerry. Where is he tonight anyway?" the tall man asked.

Amelia looked outraged and Norma pulled her youngest son out of Alex's arms and into hers. A mother's instinct to protect her child coming over her.

"Maybe someone could take Mrs. Martian and her daughter home?" the tall man asked the crowd in general.

There was a muttering around before George spoke up.  
"I'm already taking Sybil Lawson home. I can take them." he offered.

He turned and glanced at Norma and she saw his eyes were very kind and apologetic for her embarrassment.

"Come on, Amelia." George said in a sympathetic voice that was meant to keep her calm. Norma noticed for the first time the pretty blond girl beside Amelia. A little girl Norman's age who was well dressed by a loving parent or nanny. Her pretty face streaked with tears over what had happened.

Something as innocent as two three year olds playing sweethearts and kissing had turned into something very ugly.

"Bradly, it's okay." Christine was saying to the child. "You go with George. He'll take you and your mom home. Your mom isn't feeling well. You didn't do anything wrong."

The crowd was dispersing and slowly leaving the circle and only Alex and Norma were left with the tall man in the leather jacket.

"We haven't met. I'm Nick Ford." the tall man said with an easy smile.

Norma looked at Alex who looked angry and a little worried.

"I used to work with Alex's dad. In fact, I ran into Alex here at the hardware store this morning. Saw this little guy there." Nick pointed to Norman who was still clutching his arms tightly around her neck.  
"Oh." Norma said.

"Don't let these snobby women intimidate you." Nick said. "Most of them are nothing more than glorified call girls."

Norma tried to laugh at the idea of all the stuck up, overly attractive women in this town fitting that description, but it meant that she was a glorified nothing by comparison.

"Young man, don't worry about kissing little girls." Nick said and leaned down to look at her youngest child.

Norman lifted his head up and gave Nick a hopeful glance.

"Now is the only time you can get away with it." Nick added with a smirk.

"Thank you, Nick." Alex said darkly and seemed to want this nice man to leave them alone.

~ "You don't like him." Norma commented. Once she'd cleaned Norman's face off and they had found Dylan playing with the other kids. The fire works display had already started.

"He's has a lot to do with the drug trade." Alex said confidentially. "I want you to stay away from him. Keep the boys away from him to."

"Alright." Norma said. She normally liked to argue with Alex just annoy him, but she sensed that this time, Alex was very serious.

"Whatever you say."

"We're here." Tom said waltzing up to where Norma and Alex were standing. Tess has swooped in to hug Dylan and Norman as if they were her cherished grandchildren.

"Sorry it took so long." Tess apologized.

"Yeah, we got to talking to Mayor White at dinner and the old goat just doesn't know when to shut the hell up." Tom grumbled.

"Little ears, Tom." Tess scolded.

"He doesn't know when to shut the **heck** up." Tom corrected sarcastically. "Asking about a proposal to build a bypass. I don't think it's ever gonna happen."

"Cost the taxpayers a lot of money." Tess added.

"Lot of money and all so the mega marts can mega mart the place up. Gonna be a damn eye sore." Tom snarled.  
"Little ears, Tom." Tess reminded him.

"It's gonna be a **darn** eye sore." Tom corrected.

He looked at Norman who still seemed miserable and heartbroken.

"Son, what's this I hear about you kissing girls?" the Sheriff teased.

~ "I've got their change of clothes and sleepover things in their bags." Norma told Tess as Dylan and Norman climbed into the back of Sheriff Wilson's large Police SUV.

She looked worriedly at Norman who already looked sleepy.  
"Are you sure you don't mind?" she asked Tess. The old hippie lady waved a hand.

"We love having them. Children keep you young. Besides, you and Alex need some time together alone." Tess said knowingly.

Norma glanced at Alex who was talking with Sheriff Wilson in private.

"You know he seems much happier since he's been with you. Since you and the boys have been in his life." Tess added. "I really hope that this become more serious."

Norma refused to say anything about how serious things were getting with Alex. How in just one day the prospect of marriage and babies were already discussed.

"Boys, I want you to be good for Sheriff Wilson and Mrs. Wilson." Norma called to Dylan and Norman.

"We will." Dylan waved to his mother.

Alex had finished talking to Tom at the same time as she was waving to the boys.

"I'm going to go get the truck." he said to Norma as she shivered in the now chilly evening air.

"When are you going to tell me where we're going?" Norma smiled. She watched Sheriff Wilson's truck lights flash and grow smaller down the long drive. Glad she didn't have to worry about the boys tonight, but she still felt guilty about not having to worry about them.

"It's a surprise." Alex told her.

"You keep saying that." Norma sighed but smiled all the same.

"Stay here." Alex ordered.

"Right here?" she teased and pointed to the ground.

Alex threw her a look and went to bring back his truck.

"Norma Bates!" came a rushed, bubbly voice. Norma turned to see the always enthused Christine come rushing over to her.

"Oh, I wanted to say thank you." Norma said. "I'm so sorry for Norman-"

"Amelia is a heartless bitch and it's no wonder her husband is cheating on her." Christine huffed. "I'm sorry she did that to you."

"Oh." Norma said in surprise. She was sure these rich women would stick together.

"I saw your little boy kiss her little girl and it was the cutest thing in the world. I wish I had a camera!" Christine sighed. "Makes me want kids of my own. No, but that's not what I came to talk to you about." she said with renewed energy. "My brother, George has been asking abut you. He felt so terrible about what happened to."

"George?" Norma asked. She had to think for a moment and then remembered the tall skinny man with the sandy brown hair.

"Oh, he's your brother." Norma nodded.

"I noticed you seemed pretty close to Deputy Romero tonight. If that's official, I'll tell him and he'll be fine. George's divorce was finalized earlier this year and he's trying to learn how to trust again. His ex wife cheated on him with his best friend from their law firm." Christine explained.

"Your brother's a lawyer?" Norma asked with real interest. "Like, for criminals?"

"Corporate law." Christine corrected. "Companies and wealth building."

"I see." Norma said nodding her head. Her mind working quickly.

"So, would it be okay if I told him you said hi?" Christine asked.

"Well," Norma felt uncomfortable. "Alex- um… Deputy Romero and I **are** together."

"Oh." Christine's face fell.

"But, I really need a recommendation for a good lawyer about some money concerns." Norma admitted. "It's complicated, and I would need discretion."

"George is your guy." Christine told her happily. "Give me your number and I'll tell him to call you. He won't charge you either. He's terrible about that kind of stuff. One of the reasons his wife left him was because he wasn't greedy enough."

Norma wasn't sure if she was joking or not, but quickly gave Christine her home phone number.

She saw the blue farm truck pulling into the driveway with Alex behind the wheel.  
"Thanks for everything, Christine." Norma said quickly and raced to jump in the cab next to Alex.


	49. Chapter 49

49.

~ "I still can't believe Norman was kissing that little girl." Norma sighed and had to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"We should be thankful he wasn't kissing a little boy." Alex told her.

"Oh, I don't care about that." Norma said quickly. "I used to wonder about him though."

"How so?" Alex asked.

The farm truck was driving down a dark road outside of town and Norma kicked off her blue slip on shoes so that she could tuck her feet under her legs. She'd always felt safe when Alex was driving her anywhere, and that feeling of being protected within the cab of the truck took over now. She felt herself relax for the first time since the party had started and knew it was because she felt comfortable when she was alone with him. He could keep her calm when the entire world was in disorder.

"He likes to dress up in my clothes sometimes." Norma told him with an indifferent shrug.

"What?" Alex asked with a laugh.

"Well, I mean, all kids question gender roles at his age. Norman just goes into my closet and pulls on my dresses. He likes to run around the house in them a little and do some twirling." Norma waved a hand like it wasn't a big deal.

"I've never seen him do that." Alex said. He didn't want to criticize how strange he thought that behavior was. He wasn't a parent and Norma seemed know more about the issue than he did. She didn't seem at all concerned. Still, it wasn't the type of thing Alex wanted getting out to people around town. Norman was a small kid and this was the sort of oddity that the other children would torment him for.

"He's actually stopped doing it since you've been staying over." Norma realized. "I guess maybe he sees a more masculine presence in the house now."

"That's good." Alex nodded. "Maybe all the years he's looked up to you for guidance."

"Maybe." Norma agreed. "Makes sense."

She ran a hand over Alex's forearm and he felt a slight tingle of excitement at her touch.

"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" she asked playfully.

"See the lights?" he nodded when the white Christmas lights came into view through the dense tree line.

"What is it?" Norma peered into the distance at some of the fruit bearing trees his grandmother had planted during the second world war. They were draped with lights and illuminating the long driveway to the family's homestead.

"This is my family's farm." he said with a shaky breath. He could feel his face turning slightly red as he turned into the tree lined driveway. The piece of land always called "The Orchard" because his grandmother had planted a tree for every month Simon was missing in action with no word from the United States Army as to what happened to him.

Alex had no intention of hanging lights off of all 31 trees, but ten along the main drive lit up the property far better than even Christine's party.

"I thought you lived in town." Norma said once she had taken in the view of the lighted drive that emptied out to the large, two story farm house.

"I do." Alex said simply. "No one's lived here since my dad went to prison."

He turned off the farm truck and the headlights cut out. Without the extra light, the stars seemed to glow brighter again. He quickly got out of the truck and Norma, as always, opened her own door and got out before he even had time to circle around.

"So, why don't you live here?" she asked. "Why waste money on rent?"

He wasn't ready to answer that yet. Not even to Norma. He couldn't tell her about how haunted these rooms were.

"I've been bringing the boys here on the weekends. They've been helping me fix things up." he said.

"Oh?" Norma grinned.

"You don't think I could have done all this on my own, do you?" Alex held up his hands to the lights and the newly mowed lawn.

"Dylan didn't hang the lights, did he?" Norma asked worriedly.

"No, we threw Norman up there in the trees and wouldn't let him come down till the lights were perfect." Alex told her casually.  
"Oh, okay." Norma nodded. Perfectly capable of recognizing his sarcasm.

"You wait here." he told her. "I've got one more surprise for you."

"Right here?" Norma teased with a grin.

Alex stepped closer, a defiant look in his eyes before he kissed her lips.

"Be good." he warned.

She suppressed the need to smile and waited patiently as he went to the barn at the far end of the property.

~ Norma liked this farm. She couldn't imagine why Alex didn't want to live here full time. Unless it was too much upkeep. This was exactly the kind of place she always wanted to live. A few times when she was younger, the family had stayed at a commune with the hippies and she and Caleb had learned to grow their own food and raise chickens and other small livestock. She remembered eating vegetables so fresh and flavorful that when she had to eat normal, canned vegetables afterwards, they always seemed tasteless and horrible to her.

The farm house was in need of work. It was obvious that additions were put on over the years, but it was a charming Victorian style with a large front porch and bay window.

She didn't have much time to examine the fading yellow paint on the house when a roar emitted from the barn that made her almost scream in fright.

Headlights burst out of the barn and a pristine vintage car from the fifties lurched out as if it was unaware it was in the wrong decade.

Norma knew very little about cars, but knew enough to see a classic when she saw it. Knew that the two tone, blue and white sedan with the large engine was the kind of car that hadn't been made since at least the late 50's. Yet, it seemed to run perfectly and once it's first roar of life was over, the engine was well behaved.

She watched in amazement as Alex drove the beautiful beast up to the house and pulled to a stop beside her. She leaned down to peer at him from the passenger window of the car. Alex casually rested an arm over the very long front seat and smiled at her.

"I'm here to pick you up for our date." he teased.

"I really should ask my mother if it's okay to go out with you, Deputy." Norma said in a breathy voice. "You have a very bad reputation."  
"The worst reputation." Alex agreed.

Neither one of them were able to keep up the pretense of that game for very long before they were laughing.

"Come on, get in." he told her.

"Where did you get this car?" Norma asked picking up her skirts as she carefully slid in beside him. The old beauty having the advantage of the long seat without impairment so she could get just as close to him as she wanted.

"It belongs to Simon." Alex admitted. "He bought it right off the assembly line back in 1957."

Norma looked for her seatbelt and realized there wasn't one.

"Alex, how do I…?" she fumbled for a seatbelt and came up empty handed.

"No seatbelts in 1957." Alex told her as he put the car in gear and the monster lurched forward.

"Wait!" Norma cried and braced herself for certain death.

"Relax." Alex said calmly. "We're just going to circle the road to the farm and come back again. Perfectly safe. I promised Simon I'd take Lucy out for exercise one a week when he went into the home. He refused to put in seatbelts so he was never allowed to take her out past the main road."

"Lucy?" Norma asked feeling a little giddy with the raw danger of this massive animal called a car.

"Simon named her Lucy." Alex shrugged. "He liked Lucile Ball."

"Men like to name their cars." Norma observed. "Always giving them girls' names to."

"Not always." Alex smiled as they drove carefully down the empty road that lead to the farm and turned around again.

"Ships to." Norma pointed out. "Men always refer to them as female. Why is that?"

Alex had been keeping only one hand on the wheel and the other around Norma's shoulders as if they really were back in time. Norma could easily imagine the two boys in the back seat on their way home from a drive in movie.

"I think it's because men need something to look after and cherish." Alex said thoughtfully.

"Women aren't enough?" Norma asked hotly.

Alex looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Simon bought Lucy as a gift for his wife Evie. My grandmother. He used to take her out for long day trips in this car all the time." Alex explained slowly. "She was diagnosed with cancer and by the time they found out what was wrong… it was too late to do anything."

"I'm sorry." Norma said sympathetically.

"Well, she died in 1959 before I was even born. My dad was teenager and ready to leave home. Simon never remarried. He always kept Lucy here." Alex told her.

"I'm sorry you never met your grandmother." Norma sighed.

"Did you ever know yours?" Alex asked.

Norma felt embarrassment at the question.

"I met my grandmother." she nodded. "My mother's mother. She had a temper. She used to go into these rages and everyone was afraid of her. It was nice."

"It was nice?" Alex asked in amusement.

Norma shrugged.

"She was never mean to us. Her grandkids. Or any of the young kids." she explained. "She protected us like a wolf protects her babies. She was vicious to my parents, though, and I remember that I wanted to live with her. That I felt **really** safe with her. Even when she brought out a shot gun at the dinner table and tried to shoot my father for talking back to her."

"Hmm. I like her already." Alex mused. "What happened? Why couldn't you stay with her?"

Norma refused to think about it. Tonight felt so magical that the memories of her lost Appalachian grandmother were the last thing she wanted to focus on just now. Just as she told herself she wouldn't think about it, memories of waking up in the bed and feeling cold came rushing back to her. How she had rolled over and found Nanna had passed away in the night. How so many years of hard living had finally taken their toll on the small woman's body. Added to that all the smoking and drinking she'd done over the years.

Everyone remarking that forty two was too young to die of natural causes, but that Norma, only four at the time, had thought that was ancient.

"She passed away." she said at last.

Alex seemed to accept this as they turned into the tree lined driveway with the white lights again.

"I've got another surprise for you." Alex said and drove past the farm house to the barn that had been painted a bright white on one side. A table with a projector was sitting innocently across it, waiting to be used.

"Alex, what are you up to?" Norma asked with suppressed glee.

"I told you, it's a surprise." Alex said with that mischievous smile that reminded Norma of Simon. Apparently, boyish charm was genetic to the Romero men.

He pulled Lucy to a stop in front of the barn, turned off the engine, and got out to start the projector. A swell of music and images jumped on the white painted wall of the barn that Norma now realized was a homemade movie screen.

She immediately recognized the opening credits to "The Wizard of Oz" and felt a smile bloom across her face at familiar music she'd loved since childhood.

"Alex." she said softly when he got back in the car.  
"Norman told me you like this movie." he said allowing her to lean into him in the front seat as they enjoyed their own personal drive in. "That you make him sing the songs with you all the time."

"This is perfect." she whispered a rested her head on his shoulder.

~ Too soon, Dorothy was safely back in Kansas and proclaiming that there's no place like home. The nostalgic black and white seemed to make Alex feel better about the world in general. Perhaps that was the magic of it. Children's movies that still held the audience well into adulthood had a way of making everything seem less dire.

Norma had been resting her head on his shoulder for the film. Her bare feet curled on the seat of the car. Alex had enjoyed the feeling of her relaxing against him. Of her needing to lean into him the way any normal couple would.

It was exactly the way he envisioned the evening going. Right down to the picture perfect dress she was wearing. He loved how it fanned out around her legs as they were sitting in the front seat making her look so demure and feminine. Yet, despite the charming blue cardigan she wore, the dress was sleeveless and hugged her curves like a second skin, leaving her neckline beautifully exposed.

His thoughts went rapidly to how much he wanted to make all of this a reality.

"Norma?" he whispered realizing she had almost dozed off.  
"I'm awake." she said quickly.

He smiled as she pulled away from him looking slightly embarrassed and flushed.

Norma peered around the dark north pasture that held the old barn before smiling foolishly at him.

"I guess today took more out of me than I thought." she admitted. "Was I snoring?"

"No." he promised.

"What time is it?" she asked.  
"It's almost midnight."

"We should get home." she whispered but leaned in a little closer.

Alex allowed her to kiss him on the lips. That sweet kiss that was always perfection when their lips met. A thing that always started off gentle and built up too quickly to passion that would rip them both apart.

The idea of having sex with a beautiful blond in his grandfather's classic car had always been Alex's fantasy. Till one Sunday when Simon told him about the last time he'd ever made love to his precious Evie before she died had been in this car. After that unwelcome revelation, Lucy had become a sacred place that didn't belong to Alex. He was only the last caretaker for the memory of something close to being lost forever.

"Wait, Norma." Alex pulled away from her when she pulled him closer to her. Her intentions clear.

"I thought you'd want to." she said in confusion.  
"I do!" he said quickly. "I do. Not here though. Not in the car."

She looked slightly annoyed that he had spurned her advances. Something he'd never done before. From the look on her face, Norma wasn't used to being rejected.

"Alex, I thought the whole idea of this car was to get lucky tonight." she asked. "That's what a car like this is for."

Her gaze wandered around appreciating the long front and back seat that was doubtlessly planned for teenage couples on secluded lovers lanes.

"It was." Alex nodded and felt his face flush with embarrassment. "For my grandparents."

Norma didn't seem to understand right away, but comprehension dawned soon enough.  
"Oh." she said. Her hands smoothing down her skit with sudden modesty.

"Yeah, Simon told me about how he and his wife…" Alex started the engine and Lucy roared to life with her typical commotion that let him know she was in working order. It was when she stopped making certain noises that you had to worry.

"So this was their place." Norma concluded.

"It was." Alex agreed. "I wish he hadn't told me that story. Sort of sweet. He always loved Evie. Apparently my father was a horrible teenager so he took her out driving to keep her out of the house and they would stay away for a long time in Lucy."

"That's why he wanted you to keep Lucy nice for him." Norma nodded.

Alex nodded.

She seemed to think it over before coming to a decision.

"I'm glad you he told you that story." Norma said with a little smile. "It's very sweet. That he still loves his wife. That after all this time, he want's to hold onto his memory of her. You Romero men are very romantic."

"Not all of us." Alex said quickly.  
"Yeah your dad sounds like an ass, I'll tell him to his face if I ever meet him." Norma said dryly.

"I'd like to see that." Alex admitted. The idea of a vicious tiger attacking an enraged bear flashed in his mind. His money was on the tiger. The Old Bear was sadistic with hurtful words, but Norma wasn't the type to be bothered by words alone. She was far too contrary and stubborn to care about what the Old Bear thought about her.

Alex smiled at the idea of what his tiger might say to his father if given the chance, and put Lucy into gear, driving her around to the big farm house.

"Are we going home?" Norma asked.

"Not yet." Alex said.

"What are we doing?" she asked looking up at the pitched gables of second floor.

Alex didn't bother to look at the second floor window. The room his mother died in. A trick of the moonlight on the old window panes always made him see shadows in that room. See movement and things that weren't there.

"I want you to see something." he said feeling a tightness in his stomach as he slowed Lucy to a crawl. Put the breaks on and turned the key of. The beautiful beast roaring to sleep again. He'd take her one more time around the road tonight before storing her in the barn for another week. Make sure everything looked good under the hood. The old beauty queen still sounded and ran like a champion and Simon wanted nothing more than to come back to the farm and drive her again.

"What?" Norma asked innocently.

She opened her side of the door and looked up at the imposing farmhouse shrouded in darkness.

 **Does anyone know what color the original 1957 300 Ford Sedan from the movie "Psycho" was? I've gotten conflicting reports. Just curious. For the sake of this story, "Lucy" is Blue and White.**

 **Also, yes, Lucy was the name of Alex and Norma's daughter in "Regrets and Repercussions". The one where Norma lives past season 4 and Norman, dat fucker, stays in Pineview. Alex and Norma live happily ever after.**


	50. Chapter 50

50.

~ In the day time, the farmhouse didn't seem frighting at all. It had been painted a happy yellow color by his mother in the late seventies when she was in one of her optimistic moods. It had been a good year, or at least that spring had been. She was determined to be joyful again. She'd painted the house a cheery yellow, planted climbing roses all around the front porch and even hung a porch swing so she could watch her son playing.

By the end of summer though, the darkness seemed to have pulled her back in with an even stronger hold than before. It never let her go after that. Alex's father doing nothing to help. If anything, he encouraged his mother to sink further into depression by berating her everyday till the house was thick with tension when the Old Bear would come home.

New paint was never applied after that spring, and Alex had meant to invest in all weather siding to protect the wood that was defiantly showing signs of wear after almost a century of northern pacific winters.

Now, all these years later, the old house suddenly looked disgraceful in the pale moonlight and the glow of cheap Christmas lights. Certainly not up to the standards of Christine's high end lakeside house. Even Norma's small house at the end of the lane was newer and in need of much less repairs.

What was Alex thinking bringing her here?

"We can just go home." Alex said. His voice coming out in a whisper that Norma didn't hear. As a child he'd never felt embarrassed about his home. Simon had been proud of it and that was all he needed. As a teenager, he realized suddenly that other kids, like Bob Paris who's families had money, were living in much nicer homes. As if seeing the world with new eyes, Alex no longer saw the house he'd grown up in with affection, but he saw the battered wooded exterior. The window panes so old the glass was now wavy with age. The front porch that creaked and groaned with each step and the plumbing that would cost a fortune to have updated so it never was.

Norma looked back at him hopefully and Alex saw now he should have cut away the climbing roses from the front porch more. They had thrived over the past twenty years. Blooming with the sun and needing no tending from their absentee master.

"Let me get the lights." Alex muttered. He stepped on the front porch and the smell of the old wood was still the same as it was when he was a child. The sense of smell was the closest link to memory, or so Simon once told him. Just like how the smell of honeysuckle in summer made Alex think of the woods beyond the farm. Or the acid smell of engine exhaust made him remember Lucy and Simon teaching him to drive. Now, the smell of old wood made him remember his childhood and he didn't like the feeling.

Remembering how the Old Bear treated him. How cold and indifferent he was to his only child made Alex pause on the front step before he switched on the breaker box. Thankful that he'd kept up the electricity after his father went to prison.

"Wow." Norma said brightly when the porch lights burst to life and flooded them both in a warm glow.

He looked over at Norma and saw that there were no ghosts here at all. That she had chased them all away as soon as he turned on the lights and she had stepped on the front porch with him.

She looked over at the old porch swing and climbing roses.

"It's so pretty." she said dreamily.

"Needs a lot of work." Alex admitted. He nodded to the weather yellow paint that should have been redone decades ago.

"New paint is the least of the problems." he admitted.

Norma didn't seem bothered by the faded and chipped yellow paint. She ran a hand over the back of his mother's porch swing affectionately and smiled.

"Do you want to see inside?" he asked fumbling awkwardly with the keys.

Norma nodded and allowed him to take time in showing her the rest of the house.

~ Like with his apartment, Alex allowed her to look for herself. She explored as if she were in a museum of his past and kept her hands behind her back as she wandered over the threshold and into the living room. Her expression unreadable, but didn't seem too off put by the state of the farmhouse.

Romero had almost forgotten the wood paneled walls his father and a buddy had put up in the seventies. That for whatever reason, this "improvement" had stayed in the house. Alex would have to rip it all off. That would be the first step. It made the living room look too dark and depressing.

"I'm going to pull out all this wood paneling." Alex nodded although Norma didn't seem too offended. "Replace it with drywall."

"You're going to need help." Norma looked appreciatively at the high ceilings that were common in homes of this age.

"There's a lot of handy men around here who can do this kind of work." Alex told her quickly. "Left over from the logging boom. I'm sure they can get all of it done in a few months."

"I thought I would help you." Norma smiled. "I thought this would be our project."

"It can be." Alex felt the anxiety about the house ease with her here.

With such a vicious tiger on the prowl, the demons from his past were afraid to come out of the shadows. She looked over the furniture that Alex had covered with sheets when he closed the house up during the winter months.

"The plumbing will have to be updated." he mentioned. "There's two bathrooms but there's five bedrooms and a greenhouse attached to the kitchen."

"Really?" Norma's interest was sparked at the idea of a greenhouse.

She abandoned the living room and wandered into the kitchen, also in dire need of an update. Although Alex noticed she ran a hand appreciatively over the massive sink that was only found in old homes like these. Her smile growing wider when she spotted the ancient fridge Simon had bought Evie in the mid fifties for a wedding present.

"It still works." Alex nodded. "No reason to get rid of it."

"Let me guess, the lady of the house…" she pretended to think about it for a while. "She liked the color pink?" She ran a hand over the chipped chrome insignia of GE and displayed his grandmother's once bubblegum pink fridge as if in a showroom. Now the old contraption looked closer to a faded peach from age and years of sunlight bleaching it.

"Wait till you see the bathroom." Alex sighed.

"Yes, I want to see that." Norma giggled.

She noticed the french doors on the side of the kitchen and Alex allowed her to enter his mother's greenhouse.

Even with the depression and anxiety, Theresa Romero had kept her attached greenhouse alive with growing things. Alex remembered roses, orchids and other strange plants that he'd never seen before or after. She grew herbs for cooking here and even in the cold days of winter, the greenhouse flourished with vegetables.

Now, he felt as if he had failed his mother's memory for allowing all her plants to die. He'd not even bothered to find homes for them when he decided he wouldn't care for any of the plants himself. Her exotic world, a living thing she had tended, was allowed to die and rot. Her only child didn't even care.

As he looked over the remains of the her plants left to wither away without water or attention, he felt ashamed of himself for allowing it to happen.

"My dad, he…" Alex waved at the well constructed greenhouse. "Wedding present to my mother."

"Good wedding present." Norma nodded.

Alex normally didn't like to say nice things about the Old Bear, but he had to give credit where it was due. In the beginning, when they were young and still in love, there wasn't enough that Marcus Romero could do for his new bride.

Then things changed and went quickly sour.

"It has it's own heater. For cold months." Alex pointed out. Norma nodded appreciatively and waited for him to show her the rest of the house.

~ He reluctantly showed her Evie's pink bathroom horror that was connected to the only downstairs bedroom. A room that was most likely intended to be a ladies parlor at first. Norma liked the pink bathroom and found it amusing because it was a clever way to ensure a girls only sanctuary. The other bathroom was upstairs and in a sad state. Not nearly as well preserved because the Old Bear hadn't cared about keeping things nice here.

"I'll have to replace everything." Alex admitted. "Its' better that way."

"Where's your room?" Norma asked with a slight smile.

Alex tried not to return her knowing look, but it was a near miss.

"I thought you were going to be good, Mrs. Bates." he said looking away from her.

"I never promised that, deputy." she teased him.

He felt her warm hand lace with his as they went upstairs.

~ Alex's bedroom was set right off the impressive master bedroom. After his mother and his father had become nothing more than resentful roommates, it had been nice to be so close to her again. There was even a door that went from his room, past a small shared closet, and then right into hers so that they wouldn't have to go into the hallway if they wanted to talk.

When the home was originally built, the floor plans had this perplexing design as a status symbol meant to encourage modesty between a husband and wife of middle to upper class means. The victorians having a very prudish attitude about sexual encounters, even between a those already married. So connecting rooms like this, sometimes with a small sitting room at its' center, were a stylish thing. The husband would sleep in one room and the wife another. Marital relations were shared when a husband would occasionally "visit" his wife in the dead of night. Leaving quickly to preserve her reputation of course.

The Romero men, having no understanding of these strange customs and a strong need to sleep with their wives every night, were confused by the design. They chalked it up to perhaps being a nursery, or sick room. A place where an attentive mother could go to a baby or sick person faster without waking the whole house. A logic that made sense to them. After all, who simply "visited" your wife in the dead of night?

"Twin bed?" Norma suppressed a laugh.

"Slept alone." Alex sighed when he looked over his old bedroom. Realizing now how small it was now that time had changed his perspective. How battered the dresser was. Even the bookcase still held copies of the paperbacks he read in high school. Everything was frozen in time.

"Alex!" she cried in glee.

He turned in surprise and saw that she'd found his desk and the shelves lined with his baseball trophies.

"Oh it's no big deal." he started to say hoping she wouldn't exclaim too much over the elaborate trophy he'd brought home for winning state. Twice.

"Look at you in the baseball cap! It's so adorable!" Norma cried as if she were looking at a framed picture of a puppy and not an old picture of him senior year in his baseball uniform.

"Oh." Alex rolled his eyes. He'd forgotten how young he looked back then. He could barely stand to look at the stupid kid he'd been not that long ago.

"Don't." he shook his head and tried to take the picture away from her.

"Alex, you look adorable." Norma insisted.

"Don't say adorable." Alex groaned.

"Why?" Norma grinned.

"Because it's what an aunt or old neighbor lady says to you." Alex told her.

"Well, you're too young for me in this picture." Norma pointed out happily. "But if I'd met you then-"  
"Wish you had." Alex interrupted.

Norma looked up at him in surprise.

"Wish we'd have met back then." he shrugged. "Maybe a lot of bad things in our lives never would have happened."

He watched her face fall a little and a heavy silence fell between them.

"Some of the bad things I wouldn't erase." Norma admitted.

Alex knew what she meant.

"I know." he said. "We can keep the boys."

That smile was slowly coming back to her face.  
"But that's it." he said.

She put the framed picture of him back on the desk and he made a mental note to throw it out as soon as possible.

"Don't you do anything to that picture, Alex." Norma warned as if reading his thoughts.

"Why?" he asked.  
"I like that picture. You were cute." she said lifting up the edge of his mattress and pulling out a magazine that he'd forgotten was hidden there.

To his horror, Norma had discovered his playboy stash with ease.

"Why do men always hide these under the mattress?" she asked looking at the centerfold that had been pressed down flat. "Like mom's never change the sheets? We know all your hiding places."

"That's not mine." Alex said automatically with as much believability as con caught with a bag of pot.

Norma gave him a cynical look.

"It's not yours?" she asked.  
"No." Alex shook his head innocently. He refused to admit to her the embarrassing truth that he enjoyed looking a naked women when he was a teenager.

"So, this Playboy is twelve years old and under your mattress means someone broke into your house and stashed it here?" she asked playfully.

"Yes." Alex agreed quickly.

Norma snorted back a laugh, closed the magazine and slapped it on his old school desk.

"Hey, be nice to her, she's a lady." Alex scolded at the mistreatment of vintage pornography.

He carefully took the magazine and stashed it in the desk where thankfully Norma hadn't seen the others hidden beneath old homework assignments.

"She kind of looked like me." Norma teased leaning on the edge of his bed.

"I have a type." Alex shrugged not missing this opportunity to get closer to her.

He watched her eyes dancing with merriment and realized that all the ghosts and bad memories were gone when she was here. That she wasn't afraid of his past anymore than he was afraid of hers.

"Norma, I wanted to show you that I could give us a home." he whispered. His hands moving around her waist and pulling her close.

"It's going to take about a year of work at least and drain a lot of my savings to bring this place back to where it needs to be, but…"

He looked at her closely to see if she was interested in the idea of living here with him. Now that he thought about it, Norma wouldn't want to live here at all. Only two bathrooms, fifteen miles outside of town? Older homes in constant need of repairs.

"We'd- we'd have more room. Lots more room in fact. I can't promise Simon won't want to come back and live here again once it's done." he said honestly. Might as well tell her the whole truth. That it would never be just the two of them alone.

He took a deep breath and felt nervous as she seemed hesitant at the idea of living here.

"I know it's not as nice as some places around town. It can be though. In time, it'll be nice. I promise. I own this house and the land around it. I can provide for you and the boys." he added.

He watched as her eyes seemed to change color and grow into a darker blue as tears welled up. Her face looked uncomfortable and strange.

"I know you want to take care of the boys yourself to prove you can do it." Alex reminded her. "But you don't have to. Not anymore."

"Alex, if you're asking me to marry you." Norma said with a shaky breath.

"I'm just asking you if it's something you'd want." he whispered.

He moved closer to her and pressed his hips more firmly against hers. Feeling her weakening almost immediately at his touch.

"Of course this is what I want." she breathed. She let her head collapse onto his shoulder and her body melted into his as if all her strength was gone.

"Are you sure?" he asked when her lips grazed his and he started to pull up the skirt of her dress. His teenage fantasy about having a beautiful blond in his bedroom about to come true.

"A life with you is all I want, Alex." she panted as he pulled her panties down to her ankles.

 **I uploaded a chapter yesterday but the email didn't go out. So there is another chapter and it's romantic Normero fun time to.**

 **I won the note Alex wrote to Norma about the pit from screen bid! Yeah! It was the only thing I won. Wanted the beaver but he went up too high and I wasn't willing to spend that much money on him. Prices went INSANE for this Bates Motel auction. $5,000 for a room key? $5,000 for stuffed Juno? $800 for Alex's HERO leather jacket from season 1? crazy! So I'm just glad I got my little note. Gonna put it in lucite frame so it will be preserved. It's screen used even though it says duplicate. I checked and was like "Oh Yeah!"**

 **I needed a win after Friday. Even though I've officially lost 80lbs and I'm 15lbs away from a healthy weight, my blood work came back and it wasn't good. My potassium levels are WAY too low and my platelet count is WAY too high. So much so my doctor doesn't even want me driving anywhere. Sucks cuz I still gotta drive to Austin Monday and back.**

 **I never would have know there was a problem if I hadn't almost passed out after a massage Thursday. We were doing deep tissue and my partner was a little too rough and I got up off the table too quickly and said "hello" to the floor really fast. School needed a doctor's note before letting me come back and receive massage for class again, but the doctor called me at at home and said I absolutely can't go back to class till I get my blood levels strait.**

 **So, long story short, I'm on potassium pills that equal two bananas a day. I still eat two bananas anyway. I've stopped taking my HCTZ which were the real bad guy behind my low potassium. I also have to take a baby aspirin a day and pray I don't bruise too much. I also might not be able to receive deep tissue massage work which hopefully won't affect my grade.**

 **Fingers crossed. We're a little over halfway through the course and I've got perfect attendance. Not gonna miss class cuz my heart is in danger. My doctor used the term "Danger Zone" and I thought of Archer. "Lana... Lana... LANA!"**

 **I will know more Monday afternoon and I will update on Instagram. I just didn't want to disappear and have everyone wonder what happened to me.**

 **I'll always try to keep people up to date.**

 **It's very unfair. I'm only 39. I've lost all this weight, I'm eating right, working out, drinking water, no soda for three months now, never smoked or drank. Never a drug addict. It's not fair that some people can do all those things and be healthy and have no problems with getting pregnant or any serious complications.**

 **Me? No, I have to take 7 pills a day to keep my body chemistry regulated for hormones and to keep me from becoming pre-diabetic and having a heart attack before I'm 50. It's really not fair.**


	51. Chapter 51

51.

~ "Are you sure Sybil won't mind?" Norma asked again.

She felt nervous when Alex hadn't taken them home that morning, but had turned off into a well tended and older looking subdivision she had never seen before.

Perhaps it was because of the ten foot brick wall covered with ivy that helped to keep the rest of the population out of this exclusive and very "Old Money" looking neighborhood.

Alex smiled his knowing smile as he pulled the truck up to an impressive iron gate. Norma peered at the large "L" with two stags on each side and saw Sybil's house standing imposingly up the driveway.

She was surprised that he knew the access code that would unlock the gate and allow the truck in. Apparently he knew it from memory and it was something that never changed.

"I need to check on the old lady." Alex told her. "She had a lot to drink last night and George took her home along with that crazy woman. Sybil isn't as young as she used to be and she doesn't have any family anymore to check on her. All she has is me, a maid that comes in on Tuesdays and Fridays and the gardener who comes once a week."

"She lives alone in that?" Norma gasped at the three story brick mansion with the intricate stained glass windows and expertly tended gardens out front.

"Family home." Alex explained quickly putting the truck into park and hoping out. Norma followed him, not to the front door like she was expecting. Instead, he went towards the side of the house where a sign instructed delivery and service people to enter.

Norma didn't miss the large, grecian style swimming pool in back. Complete with statues of goddesses and a pool house at the far end.

Alex tried the side door and found it locked and to Norma's surprise, produced his own key from one of the many he always had.

He noticed Norma's shocked expression.

"For a while, when things were bad at home, I used to live with Sybil." Alex explained.

"Here?" Norma could barely hold back a laugh.

Alex rolled his eyes as if he couldn't believe it either.

The side door opened into a mud room that looked ready to hold many coats and dirty shoes of visitors and staff alike. Only a few hooks were used now. Norma recognizing the summer wrap Sybil had worn to the party last night was hanging on the hook by the door. The old woman's orthotics already kicked off and on the floor.

"Sybil?" Alex called out to the empty and impossibly large house.

There was a stillness in these silent rooms that made Norma shutter.

"Sybil, it's Alex. I've got Norma with me. We're coming in. Coming to check if you're okay." he called out again to the emptiness.

"Alex we shouldn't be here." Norma whispered.

She spotted a pristine kitchen that was updated with modern appliances, but still had an impressive antique wood burning cook stove built into a fireplace. No doubt the thing had been so large when it was first installed in this house as a working stove, the owners decided it would be forever entombed in this kitchen.

The result was pleasing enough with the white marble countertop and the black and white tile floors that Norma suspected were original. She had to tear her eyes away from a kitchen where she could have cooked for days in order to not lose track of Alex.

It was easy enough down these spooky hallways. Where old black and white pictures hung of creepy little girls who need smiled. All of them were dressed in turn of the century outfits of white lace and bows. Their faces somber even as their clothes were innocent.

"Sybil's mother." Alex pointed to a particularly sour faced little girl with a massive bow on her head.

Norma clutched at Alex's hand as he lead her past a dinning room and billiard room.

"So where did Miss Scarlet kill Professor Plum with the knife?" Norma hissed. She felt goose bumps prickle her skin as she looked around at all the old things in Sybil's home.

Half of these pieces should be in a museum. At an antique store, they would fetch a small fortune.

"In the parlor." Alex said cooly.

He nodded to the large back and white picture of a very cute young woman with elegantly styled hair. The kind Norma recognized was from the forties. The girl wasn't exactly beautiful, because she seemed doomed to forever be a baby faced type of creature. From her button nose to her cupid hart lips.

"Sybil." Alex told her. "She was about your age when that was taken."

Norma was baffled that the old woman could ever be that young. She stooped lower to pick up the nicely framed picture and examine it closer. Wondering where this adorable girl had gone. How in the world she could have been replaced with the old woman.

"Alex? Is that you?" came a harsh growl from down the hall and Norma almost dropped the picture frame.

Alex caught her before any damage was done and helped her to set it back on the side table before calling back.

"It's me. Came to check on you." he called before venturing in too far.

"Come in. I'm decent." Sybil huffed. "Well, I have clothes on at least."

Norma let out a pent up sigh and realized there was nothing to be afraid of in this house at all. That cute young woman in the picture hadn't really gone anywhere, she'd just gotten old. No doubt she'd been just as audacious then as now. Perhaps more so. Norma was sure they would have been friends.

"I've got Norma with me." Alex called when they entered a closed off study that was used as Sybil's own home within her home. There was even a twin sized bed in the corner so the old woman wouldn't have to climb up mountains of stairs to go to bed each night.

Like the pink bathroom, Norma thought the idea of condensing a living space into one room was smart.

"Forgive the mess, Little Bear." the old gargoyle said looking exhausted but alive enough to welcome them. "Been buried in work lately."

Norma watched Alex lean down and kiss the old lady's cheek. Sybil smiling as if greeting a favorite child.

"Norma, grab that chair and sit down." Sybil ordered.

"We can't stay long." Alex told her.

Norma was looking around for the chair Sybil mentioned and saw that most of the chairs were occupied by boxes marked with 'Property of White Pine Bay Family Services Do Not Remove' on them.

"Um, should you have these in your home?" Norma asked worriedly pointing to the dozen boxes that held classified information about families in the area.

"Dear, I'm the elected head of the department of family services. I have been for the past thirty five years. I also am the head of the adult protective services, mental health services and all the other services that get lost in the cracks. By **lost** , I mean our system is rigged to that these individuals are pushed into the cracks." Sybil said hatefully.

Norma watched as she stood up with unusual grace for a woman her age, went to the stand glass window behind a massive and elaborate desk, and opened a window. She expertly lighted a cigarette and looked at the thing as if it were her only friend in the world.

"I'm sorry, I'm still a little drunk." Sybil admitted. "How did I get home anyway?"

"Christine's brother George took you." Alex explained with an amused smile. Clearly he was used to the antics to the old lady and was entertained by them now.

"Oh, shit. He didn't stay the night did he?" Sybil asked. Her eyes growing wide in fear.

"No." Alex shook his head.

"I went through the change in 1967." Sybil sighed. "Doctor Miller was the only lady doctor in town and he gave hormones that cranked up the engines so to speak. Without having to worry about an unwanted baby, I always let myself get a little lose after menopause."

"Sybil, I'm going to get you some toast." Alex said quickly and departed the room before the old lady could go on about her sex life.

The gargoyle waved a hand as if good riddance.

"Thought he'd never leave." she huffed. Smoke emitting from her mouth like a dragon. "Alex was always the kind of kid who was a tad sensitive. Always surprised me when he went into law enforcement. I think he did it out of spite. He'd be much more suited in another line of work."

Norma noticed another picture that was at least twenty years old in a frame beside Sybil's twin bed. The old gargoyle looked unchanged, even in fashion in the picture, but Norma recognized Alex right away.

He still had the same facial expression. His eyes still remarkable and instantly recognizable. He wasn't much older then Dylan and he was dressed in a baseball uniform. The little boy proudly holding a good size trophy for the camera. The old woman smiling with her arm around the child as if they were family.

"I had no idea Marcus would turn so foul." Sybil was saying and Norma realized she had been talking this whole time. "That the Old Bear would drive his poor wife to kill herself."

Norma looked back at the old woman and could see she was indeed still a little drunk from the party.

Sybil gazed into space for a while and allowed her cigarette to burn slowly down before she shook her head.  
"If I had known, if I had any idea how it would turn out, I never would have given them that baby." she said in a sad and remorseful voice.

Norma suspected that maybe Sybil might have forgotten she was even there.

"What baby?" she asked. The old woman blinked and looked at Norma as if seeing her for the first time.  
"Alright." Alex said coming back into the study holding a plate with toast and a glass of water.

"Toast with lots of butter. Norma and I have to go pick up the boys." he said setting down the plate and glass.

"You're not going to stay for shots?" Sybil asked.

"We all know you could drink anyone under the table." Alex sighed and kissed her cheek.

"True." Sybil agreed. "But I want you, Norma and the boys to come for dinner sometime. I never get to entertain. I'd say bring Simon but he hates me."

"He doesn't hate you." Alex told her.

"Well, he doesn't like me." Sybil told him.

"Lot of people don't like you."

"Jealous pricks." Sybil muttered dryly.

"We should go." Alex grinned. "Stay out of trouble."

"If I didn't stay out of trouble for the cops, the preacher and my mother, what chance do you have, Little Bear?" Sybil called after them as Alex pulled Norma out of the house.

~ "Why does she live in that big house all alone?" Norma asked on the drive back into town.

"She's always lived alone." Alex told her. "Her father died after world war two ended and her mother died in the sixties."

"She never got married? Never had children?" Norma asked. The girl in the picture was attractive enough to land a husband. If there was money involved, surely a husband could be found for her.

"I'm sure she had her chances." Alex admitted. "She never did though."

"That's very sad." Norma sighed. "Wait. I thought we were going to pick up the boys."

She noticed they were turning towards her part of town. Going to her house.

"We need to change clothes, Norma. You want the boys to see you in the same clothes as last night?" Alex teased.

She rolled her eyes. The memory of this man offering her a life with him made her blush. It was by far the most romantic thing that had ever happened to her. That she could have a home with him. A real home that they would own and where they could be happy together seemed like a fairytale.

Then there was the added bonus of having him as a husband and not just a perfect boyfriend, supportive father figure for her children and exceptional lover. Her face grew warmer at the memory of how he'd abused her on top of that desk in his old bedroom. As if living out every fantasy he'd ever had of having a girl in his room.

"What the hell?" Alex said and ripped Norma out of her happy daydream.

She leaned forward and saw her house come into view. Saw the police cars lined along her drive and all of them looking up in recognition at Alex's truck.

"What happened?" Norma gasped.

~ "Someone tried to break into the house." Deputy Washington explained to Alex once Norma had calmed down at the sight of her already battered Buick having it's windshield broken, headlights smashed and the body dented up even more. Even the tires were slashed and house paint thrown across the hood for good measure.

"I said tried to break in. Whoever it was, didn't get very far before…" Washington looked at the large bay window of Norma's house and at the dog who was barking ferociously at them inside.

"Well, before Deputy Graceland bit them. The intruder broke a window on the back door, Mrs. Bates and the dog attacked when they tried to stick a hand in to unlock it. We've got a lot of blood evidence we need to collect." Washington explained.

Graceland was still barking inside Norma's house. Still pissed off that someone had dared to invade her mistresses home where the bacon and eggs lived.

"Did the neighbors see anything?" Alex asked.  
"No. You're pretty far down the lane, Mrs. Bates. They didn't report the break in till someone came out to get the Sunday paper and saw your car. He was worried about you and the kids. Given what happened before." Washington said kindly.

Norma looked ready to start crying again.  
"Alex, who could have done this?" she breathed in raw panic. "What if we'd been home with the boys when this happened?"

"Romero, crime scene needs to get into the house to collect the blood and they can't with Graceland there." Washington nodded to the bay window. The dog standing guard over the house and barking louder than ever.

"I'll get her." Alex sighed. "Norma, you wait here."

"My car." she groaned at the sight of her only transportation. She'd been meaning to buy another one but never had the money. She should have kept it in the garage but couldn't because they had been storing things there that left no room for the old Buick. How was she going to get to work now?

In a few minutes, Alex was back with Graceland on a leash. The large German Shepard looked proud of herself and ready for her next battle. Her chest puffed up and her head held high.

"She's getting bacon tonight." Norma told Alex as they watched the deputies enter her home to collect evidence.

"I already told her that." Alex said rubbing the dog's head.

Graceland sat on her haunches between her partner and mistress. Protective of them both in case evil should strike again.

~ "I can't believe this happened. Who would do this?" Norma asked as she cleaned up what little blood was left after crime scene had finished. There was a lot of ink on her door from fingerprinting, and broken glass on the floor. Deputy Wilson said they found a lot of finger prints but had to take Norma's and the boys to separate them from the would be intruder.

"I don't know." Alex said sweeping the last of the glass into the trashcan. He had a very good idea who had done this. Few people in town had a grudge against Norma Bates and last night's party had been too much of a coincidence.

"You don't think it was that crazy woman?" Norma asked. "The mother of that girl Norman kissed?"

"No." Ales said.  
"How do you know?" Norma breathed. "Did you see my car? It was pretty aggressive."

"She was hammered, Norma. You saw her. I'll take care of it." Alex said calmly. "Don't worry."

"Don't worry?" Norma huffed. "How are we supposed to sleep here after this happened? How am I supposed to go to work in the morning?"

"You'll use the truck till we can get you something else." Alex told her. "We can handle this."

Norma didn't seem convinced.

"It's about me. I arrest bad guys and it pisses them off. It's one of the hazards of dating a cop. I'm sorry." he said.

She gave him a soft smile and nodded towards the car out front.

"What are we going to do about that?" she asked.

"I'll have someone tow it and see how much it is to repair. It might not be salvageable." Alex admitted.

"We can't let the boys see what happened." Norma sighed.

"They won't." Alex promised as he tapped a piece of cardboard over the broken windowpane.

~ Norma saw the Buick towed before they left for Tom's farm to pick up the boys. Alex telling Graceland she was a good girl and to watch the house. The dog standing guard at Norma's bay window ready to demolish anyone who threatened the nice lady and the little humans again.

"We just tell the boys the car stopped working and the window got broken." Alex explained. "We're not going to make a big deal about it."

"Okay." Norma said. She felt numb and slightly sick at the thought that someone almost broke into her home. If Graceland hadn't been there…

"Mom!" Dylan saw the farm truck pull into the long drive of Tom and Tess' house and ran towards them. He looked happy and winded and was already dirty from playing outside.

"Where's Norman?" his mother asked when she'd gotten out of the truck and given him a hug.

"Inside sleeping. Tess made him take a nap after what happened." Dylan explained.

Norma let go of Dylan and looked at him worriedly.

"What do you mean? What happened?" she asked.

Dylan shrugged.

"She says there's something wrong with Norman." he told her.


	52. Chapter 52

52.

~ "He had a seizure." Tess said calmly. Her voice was a soothing whisper while Norma smoothed over Norman's feather like hair. Her youngest was dressed in Dylan's old pajamas and they were slightly too big for him.

"It was under two minutes so we didn't call an ambulance. He woke up slowly and I had to give him a bath. He went right to sleep after that." Tess explained.

"A bath? Why?" Norma asked.

"Most of the time, with a seizure, there's loss of bladder control. Happens in adults to. Nothing to be ashamed of and I've already told Dylan he's not allowed to make fun of his brother for it." Tess said in a strict tone that made Norma believe Dylan wouldn't ever mention Norman wetting himself again.

"Has Norman ever been tested for epilepsy?" Tess asked.

Norma looked at her sleeping son. He seemed so fragile and weak. He didn't even stir when she ran a hand over his cheek.

"No. He's never done this before." she admitted sadly. She felt like a terrible mother for enjoying the night alone with Alex while her son was suffering.

"Sometimes seizures with younger kids are common and they go away on their own." Tess said in her kind and gentle voice. "A child's brain is always growing and expanding and wires get crossed and fire incorrectly. It might never happen again but you should get him checked out."

Norma tried not to let Tess see her cry. Tried not to let Tess see the guilt and embarrassment that was tainting her cheeks at how she'd abandoned her children to have a romantic evening alone with her boyfriend.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with this, Tess." she breathed at last.

"It was no trouble, Norma. I can recommend a good doctor. Doctor Bloch is right here in town. He's the best pediatrician and in a town this small the only OBGYN. I hear he's delivered almost all the babies in White Pine Bay for the past few decades. He can recommend someone if it's serious." Tess said as Norma lifted her still sleeping son into her arms. She hadn't realized how heavy Norman had gotten over the past few months. Since Sam had died, her broken arm and Alex coming into their lives more and more, if Norman had needed to be lifted at all, Alex was always the one to do it.

"I've got him." Norma breathed as her youngest stirred fitfully.

~ "Go on. Rinse off all the mud." Sheriff Wilson said lazily aiming the garden hoes at Dylan's filthy feet and hands. The little boy excitedly jumping up and down in the grass as the Sheriff washed him off on the front lawn before sending him home.

"Here." Alex handed Dylan a dry towel. He grinned when enough dirt and grime had been kicked off that Norma might find the child acceptable to take a bath in her clean house. Maybe.

"Kids used to love it when we'd spray 'em down like this in the summer time. Tess made all of them strip down to their skivvies and we'd spray them down with the garden hoes. They'd play outdoors and come home caked in filth and we'd just spray them down and make them eat dinner on the back porch while they dried off." Tom admitted fondly.

The Sheriff shrugged as if the practice was not only practical, but something that was missing from the modern world.

"How I was raised." he said sadly.

Alex smiled and caught the towel Dylan threw back at him. He made a mental note to put some aloe on Dylan's nose tonight for the sunburn that had appeared across his nose and cheeks. The sudden crop of freckles making the child look more liberated than normal.

"Did you have fun?" he asked when Dylan redressed in the clean shirt and pants Norma had provided in an overnight bag.

"Yeah." Dylan said. "Sheriff Wilson's kids had an old fort and Norman and I played in there all morning. We gathered eggs and helped with the garden."

"Good to hear you helped." Alex told him.

He spotted Norma carrying her youngest protectively across the living room and towards the front porch. The little boy's body hugging hers so tightly, it was as if she feared he might be ripped away from her.

"It was just a small seizure, Alex." Tom told him again.

Alex nodded. Wilson had explained what had happened as soon as Norma had rushed inside. That it was nothing to worry about and that they should go see the local pediatrician soon.

"Don't let her worry too much." Tom warned. "Norma likes to worry. I can tell."

"You have no idea." Alex admitted before the screen door opened and Norma, a vision as always, swept outside holding her youngest.

"We need to go home and put him to bed." she said quickly.

~ "Doctor Bloch is a good pediatrician." Alex said once Norma had tucked her youngest into his own bed.

She couldn't focus on anything but Norman right now. She had even forgotten that Dylan had been dirty and sunburned. All she was concerned with was that Norman was safe at home and in his bed. That his dinosaur sheets were clean and smelled good and his favorite stuffed dog was close by.

She had even forgotten about the break in for the moment.

"Norma?" Alex asked when she had been watching Norman sleep for a while.

She looked up at him and realized she hadn't responded.

"What?"

"I said Doctor Bloch is a good pediatrician. He takes care of all the kids in town and delivered most of them. Including me." Alex confessed.

"Really?" Norma smiled and smoothed over her youngest's hair.

"You'll like him." Alex said.

"I guess I should call and make an appointment." Norma admitted.

"I would have but I don't have all of Norman's information." Alex admitted awkwardly.

Norma stood up and reluctantly left her youngest to sleep alone.

"It's ok." she whispered.

~ "What happened to the back door?" Dylan asked scowling at the broken window pane Alex had covered with cardboard that morning.

"Well, lets just say you don't want to lock yourself out of your own house and have to break in." Alex told him.

He glanced over in the kitchen while Norma was on the phone with the doctor's office. She seemed irritated and had all the important government issued medical cards out on the counter. Alex knew she was on government assistance for herself and the boys for medical care to.

"For just the doctor's visit?" Norma said in surprise. "Not for tests?"

She gave him a quick look and turned away.

"What's wrong with Norman?" Dylan asked.

"Nothing's wrong with him. He's just going to go see special doctor for kids." Alex explained easily. "Make sure everything is okay so your mom won't worry."

Dylan looked uneasy.

"You know how your mom likes to worry." Alex pulled Dylan into a slight hug.

"Yeah." Dylan agreed while Norma set up a time for Norman's appointment.

~ "I was thinking." Norma said after she'd accomplished her evening rituals of feeding her family and sending them to bath time and bed time. She felt a little better when Norman woke up from his nap and was back to his old self.

He had no memory of the seizure and Dylan didn't even tease him about it. When she told Norman he was going to see doctor Bloch tomorrow afternoon, Dylan wanted to go and see the doctor to.

"You have school tomorrow." Alex informed him. "I'm driving you. Remember?"

"Yeah." Dylan had sulked.

"We were going to meet your teacher." Alex reminded him.

"What if those other kids don't like me?" Dylan asked.

"How could they not like you?" Norma had asked in mild outrage.

After dinner was put away, baths were finished, dishes washed and Norma had come to bed smelling of soap and freshly washed hair, Alex pulled her bare foot close to him and kissed it.

Watching a smile finally bloom on her face after such a rough day.

"What were you thinking about?" he asked playfully.

He was enjoying the view of her wearing that delightful slip that perfectly matched her skin tone. That lace that hit her thigh in just the right way and how the color dipped into the hollow of her breasts as if begging him to run a hand over the fabric.

"I want to write a letter to Violet." Norma admitted. "To her adopted parents."

Alex wasn't prepared for that.

"Oh." he said.

"I don't want to try and get custody." she explained quickly. "I want to have a relationship with my sister. I'd like to meet her. I want to explain why I didn't know about her. Why she had to be in the foster system and why I'm not trying to get custody now."

Alex waited a few seconds before he answered.

"I think that's a great idea. We can go together." he said.

"Really?" she asked hopefully. Her eyes brightening and that blueness sparking with a brightness he'd never seen before.

"Of course." he said. "We can take a flight to Florida whenever Harman's want you to meet Violet and spend a weekend there."

"What if they don't want me to meet her?" Norma asked worriedly.

"They invested a lot of time and money looking for relatives for Violet. It's not like you're a psychotic serial killer. You're family and Violet had more family with Dylan and Norman now. She's going to be thrilled." He reminded her.

Alex felt his heartbeat increase slightly when Norma leaned into him. Her gaze growing intense as her hands cupped his face.

"You would do that for me?" she whispered. "Fly all the way to Florida with me and back to meet my little sister?"

"We can leave the boys with Tom and go to Disney World without them." Alex whispered menacingly. "Really rub it in when we get back."

Norma suppressed a laugh and Alex couldn't stop his hands from exploring the fabric of her night slip. It was every bit as smooth and beguiling as he imagined it would be. Not that she wore it for long.

~ Deputy Alex Romero spotted Rebecca Hamilton in her favorite cafe around lunch time.

Rebecca was a creature of intense habit and he knew her habits well. She walked to work from her new, expensive, but tiny apartment where she alone lived with a solitary cat. It was always coffee at the Brick House coffee bar at 7:30. Always the same blend. Always fat free. She read the paper alone until the bank where she was a teller opened at 8a.m.

Then she promptly went to lunch at the Royal Garden Cafe at noon sharp. She always ordered one of the soups and it was usually vegan. Alex hated the food there. It was over priced, strange, unsatisfying and he was thankful Norma liked to cook with meat.

Still, he went to the Royal Garden Cafe for lunch when saw the Ace bandage wrapped around Rebecca's right hand. It could have been carpel tunnel, or something easily explained away. Alex was willing to bet that she had some nasty dog bites on that hand. Bites that had gone deep enough to draw blood before she had gone into a rage at not being able to break into Norma's house. Instead choosing to trash her car as a sick consolation.

Alex held his own rage in as he thought about how was the best way to approach the situation. He couldn't just confront her. He knew she did it. Rebecca was always jealous. Even though she had never really wanted him, she didn't want anyone else to have him either.

She sat primly at the rustic bar by the window. Her gray suit dress perfectly complimenting her cat's eye glasses as she read a copy of Dorian Gray.

Alex ordered something called a black bean burger that came out too small for a real meal and with a side of chips he found flat and stale. He was thankful Norma had mentioned making some kind of pasta tonight so he wouldn't starve to death.

"Hey." he said casually sitting next to Rebecca at the bar.

She jumped at the invasion and he had to admit she looked fetching as ever with her hair tied back in a pony tail and her shoes matching her clothes to planned perfection. Still, when she saw him, he could see the guilt in her eyes.

"Hey." she said slowly. "Long time no see."

Alex was quite as he examined his meager lunch. No wonder Rebecca stayed so thin. Too thin, he decided when compared to the soft curves of a woman he truly loved.

"So, last night." he said casually. "Last night, you crossed a line."

"Excuse me?" Rebecca asked. Her expression looked ready to be shocked.

"You trashed my girlfriend's car and tried to break into our house." Alex said keeping his focus on the oncoming rain that was the hallmark of the approaching fall.

"What? I did no such thing! I was at Christine's party all night you saw me I was with-"

"Stop it." Alex warned.

"You saw me and I saw you with that trashy Bates woman." Rebecca sneered.  
"Stop." Alex said with a sharpness even he wasn't used to. Suddenly he reminded himself of the Old Bear. Rebecca pulled away and he saw that her face look afraid.

"How did you hurt your hand?" he nodded to the bandage on her arm. "Dog bite?"

She smiled. It was a sinister and evil smile.

"I should sue you. That stupid dog of yours is a menace and needs to be put down." she said.

"Or maybe you shouldn't try to break into people's homes." Alex warned just as scathingly.

"Not **your** home, Alex." Rebecca reminded him. Her tone taking on the same infection as every horrible girl from high school Alex had ever known.

" **My** home. **My** family." Alex told her strongly. "Crime lab has your blood. I'll be sure to mention that I saw you with bandages on your wrist today. Jealous ex looks good on you, Rebecca."

She sneered at him.

"Good luck with that." she laughed. "Bob won't allow any charges to get very far and we both know it."

Alex refused to look at her. He'd known she saw Bob Paris occasionally.

"You know, I can't believe you would downgrade yourself like that." she sighed. "I mean, Norma Bates? Single mother of two boys. Both of them with different fathers? She's on welfare and is basically a glorified cook?"

Rebecca opened her book and casually found her place again.

"I don't know, Alex. It just seems like you could do better. I mean, everyone at Christine's party was laughing at you last night for showing up with her." she said. "Especially after you shot and killed her husband. What was it? A pity date?"

"Stop it, Rebecca." Alex snapped. "It's over. It has been for a long time."

"Don't tell me you're actually playing house with Norma Bates." she laughed. "You don't really think that's going to work do you?"

Alex tried to control his breathing. Tried to remind himself never to hit a woman.

"Just because I never wanted to stay with you?" he asked instead.

What he said, seemed to stab Rebecca like a dagger to the heart. He watched, almost painfully as the blood rushed out of her face and her wicked smile melted.

"What does she have that I don't?" Rebecca whispered angrily. Her feelings hurt by Alex reminding her that he never wanted her to stay the night. That he never wanted to make plans with her longer than a few hours into the future. That he could never stomach being with her at all unless alcohol was involved.

"You just like the helplessness?" she asked.

"No." Alex shook his head. He calmly wrapped up his reming vegan lunch and stood. "Norma wanted me." he told her.


	53. Chapter 53

53.

~ Norma had wanted to be with Dylan on his first day of school and felt that nagging sting of neglectful mother bite at her when it was Alex who was meeting with her son's kindergarten teacher instead of her. All mom's met the teacher on the first day. Not mom's boyfriend. Surely the gossip would spread like wild fire now about her and Alex.

Still, she had managed to get Norman an early appointment in to see the highly respected Doctor Bloch and she couldn't let it go. She would have to meet Dylan's teacher tomorrow and tell her what happened then.

Besides, she was sure that Dylan was over the moon with having Alex drive him to school in the police SUV and walking him to class. All the other kids noticing Alex's uniform and being just as impressed as Dylan was.

Norma couldn't compare to that in the eyes of a six year old. Not even if she rode up on a flying unicorn.

She checked the clock again and saw that her appointment time had come and gone and that Doctor Bloch was running behind schedule. Norma had even arrived early to fill out paper work since they were new patients. Doctor Bloch had better be spectacular since his co-pay was outrageous. Norma pushed aside the idea of asking Alex for help with bills this month. It was embarrassing to admit that she was falling behind with everything the boys needed now that the weather was getting colder. They would need new shoes and jackets and Dylan needed new pants for school.

Alex had offered, may times, to pay for things like groceries and gas for her now wrecked car. He'd loaned her the farm truck to take Norman to the doctor's office today and that was all the help she was willing to take from him.

They weren't married and they had only been a couple for a few months now. It wouldn't be right to accept anything from him aside from the occasional dinner out or the much appreciated home repairs he did without asking.

"Emma, leave the lady alone." came polite voice from the other side of the waiting room.

Norma had been so lost in her worries about winter clothes for the boys and her future with Alex that she hadn't noticed the dark haired little girl was attempting to crawl into her lap.

"Oh." Norma gasped in amused surprised when the girl, about Norman's age but with brown eyes, large and looking like she hadn't slept enough, tried again to climb onto her lap.

A man, thin and balding was walking over to them.

"Emma." he scolded.

"It's okay." Norma said quickly and felt the need to laugh at the affection this wayward child seemed to need.

"She had a rough night." The man explained. He fumbled with the intake paper work and sat across from them as Norma easily scooped the girl, Emma, onto her lap and rested her there.

The man eyed his daughter, ensuring she would behave, before he went to work filling in the paper work.

"Must be something in the change of weather." Norma commented when Emma rested her head on her chest. She noticed the little girl was too thin and her dark hair was limp and lacking the normal shine that was expected in children her age.

Emma's hands wrapped around Norma's fingers as if she were still a baby and Norma found them to be cold despite the fact the little girl was well dressed for oncoming fall and sudden rain storm outside.

"Must be." the man commented. "Sorry if she's troubling you." he added.

"No trouble at all." Norma smiled and rocked Emma gently as if she were still a baby. The little girl impassive to the world around her and Norma sensed that something more than the weather was very wrong with her.

"I hear doctor Bloch is very good." she told Emma's father.

"I hope so." he said. "Woke up in the middle of the night and she could catch a breath. Ran the shower tap on hot to create steam. Thought it might help her cough up whatever it was causing her breathing troubles." he shook his head. "Still nothing. Now she's all cold in the hands and feet."

"Kid's have strange illness all the time." Norma assured him. "I'm sure it's nothing serious."

She was silently thankful Dylan and Norman had never had such traumatic health crisis before. Dylan's worst health scare had been a mild cold when he was three and he shook it off in a day. The chickenpox hadn't even slowed him down and he'd complained loudly that he couldn't go outside and had to stay in bed.

Norma glanced down at her youngest who was playing with the crate of waiting room toys. Since he'd been so rudely removed from his mother's bed the other morning, Norman had been giving her the cold shoulder lately. He pretended he just wasn't interested in her and Norma found that hurtful.

Emma's father nodded to Norman.

"He's lovely." he said.

"Thank you." Norma smiled happily. "His name is Norman and he just turned four."

"My Emma is four as well." he said.

"Oh that's nice." Norma nodded. "I'm Norma Bates."

"Will Decody." he said.

"I have my son at the daycare and sometimes I do a shift to help out. Will Emma be there?" she asked.

"I like to keep Emma at home with me." Will explained slowly.

"Oh, well, it's a lot of fun." Norma told him. "She could meet other kids."

Norma smoothed over Emma's hair and felt the little girl want to snuggle closer to her.

"I like having Emma at home with me." Will explained again sadly.

"Emma?" a nurse called.

Will looked up and Emma stirred reluctantly at being summoned.

"Well if you change your mind about day care, it's a great place. The Red School house. It's run by two very nice ladies." Norma explained setting Emma gently on her feet and smoothing out her little dress so she would be presentable.

Emma took her father's hand and Will nodded a polite thank you before leaving to see the doctor.

Norma watched them leave and felt a nudge from a warm little hand. She looked down to see Norman scowling angrily at her before climbing on her lap the way Emma had done just moments before.

"Oh, I see how it is." Norma said dryly. She picked her son up and allowed him the comfort of being held like a baby to. How many more times could she do this anyway? Might as well enjoy it.

She held him close and smiled at the smell of his clean dry hair.

"You were just jealous? Is that what it takes to get you to notice me again?" she teased her son.

Norman didn't say anything. He simply wanted more affection from her and to be babied and spoiled as if they were the only two people in the world.

~ "It's not uncommon for a child his age to have a small seizure." Doctor Bloch explained. Norma watched as the large man, at least six four and with just as impressive weight, felt Norman's throat and examined his eyes and ears.

"He's never done it before and neither has my other son." Norma insisted.

"Tess Wilson did the right thing." Doctor Bloch told Norma nonplused. "If a seizure lasts less than two minutes, it's not serious. Roll the victim on his side and allow him to come out on his own. He will usually need a lot of sleep after it's happened. Not remember much."

"That's a baby." Norman pointed to an anatomical chart of a pregnant woman with a fully developed fetus inside.

"Hey, young man." Doctor Bloch scolded with a warm smile. "Who's the doctor here?"

He pretended to be confused for a second and Norma smiled as he put the stethoscope on Norman's ears so he could listen to the doctor's heartbeat and then his own.

"Well, I think you'll live, young man." he said at last.

"What about the seizure?" Norma asked.

"It's just the one. If this has been happening a lot then that's cause for concern. Children's brains are active things and I don't want to medicate them unless absolutely needed. If it's a real worry, I recommend no television. Intense flashing lights can trigger seizures. Also fresh air and an early bed time never hurt anyone." Doctor Bloch told her.

Norma felt herself relax a little at the idea that there was no medication involved. The large man reached into a drawer and produced a small plastic toy for Norman and paper children's book for Norma.

"Maybe he's too young, and maybe not. It's a good kids book about where babies come from." the doctor said in a soft whisper while he avoided Norma's eyes. "I've given them out to parents so they can explain things to the little ones in a language they can understand. Not smutty. I promise."

Norma felt herself blush slightly at the child friendly picture book with simple words explaining the basic idea of procreation.  
"Oh… thank you." Norma stammered.

"You know, I delivered Alex Romero." Doctor Bloch said in his normal voice. "Quite newborn. Very small. Hardly cried at all."

"Alex told me." Norma smiled.

"The Old Bear was very proud." Doctor Bloch said. His ruddy face suddenly becoming darker when lost to memory. "Very proud." he added sadly.

Norma shifted uncomfortably.

"I understand your an OBGYN?" she asked.

"I understand correctly." Doctor Bloch smiled at Norman.

She felt odd about talking about this kind of thing in front of her son but the doctor spared her the trouble by opening the door of his exam room.

"Sarah? Will you take the little one here to our special play room while I have a sit down with Mrs. Bates?" he asked.

A small, small by Doctor Bloch's size, appeared in the exam room and smiled brightly as she helped Norman off the table.

"We have a nice play room for you and your mom will be out if just a second." she promised.

When the door was closed and they were alone, Doctor Bloch was frank.

"I'm assuming you want to discuss birth control?" he asked.

"Yes." Norma breathed. Thankful she wouldn't have to explain that she was sexually active.

"What are you using now?" he asked.

"Alex and I… just condoms. We're careful." Norma assured him.

"Good." Doctor Bloch nodded. "What have you used in the past?"

"Nothing." Norma admitted.

The large man looked at her and she shrugged.

"Norman… I nursed him for a long time. I wasn't ovulating. Dylan, my other son, was the same." she explained feebly. "I wasn't in a relationship that… well I wasn't seeing anyone." she told him quickly.

"Pap smear?" Doctor Bloch asked.

Norma shook her head.

"When was the last time you saw a doctor?" he asked.

"When Norman was born." she admitted.

"So you'll rush your child to the doctor for something minor but haven't taken yourself to a doctor for several years?" he asked. "Good mother but bad patient." he scolded gently.

Norma wanted to explain, but decided not to tell him about how there'd been no money for the luxury of doctors before, and there still wasn't.

"We're going to get your vitals, get a pap smear and blood work today, Mrs. Bates. If all comes back good, I can start you on a very safe very effective oral birth control in a week." he told her.

"How much is all this going to cost?" Norma asked. She could feel the anxiety creeping in.

"We can work out a payment plan." Doctor Bloch assured her. "For you and for Norman. I'm not in the business of neglecting the health of women and children."

~ "How was your first day of school?" Norma asked when Dylan jumped into the cab of the farm truck. She had forgotten that her oldest still had a slight sunburn on his nose from yesterday.

Dylan looked winded and tired but very happy. He held up a drawing of a cowboy holding a gun next to a dog and a truck.

"We had to draw what we're going to be when we grow up." Dylan explained.

"You're going to be a cowboy?" Norma asked with a grin. She made sure Dylan was buckled up before she pulled into traffic and away from the school's parking lot.

"No, I'm going to be police man like Alex." Dylan said eagerly. "Everyone thought he was my real dad and I told them he was."

"What?" Norma gasped in panic. "Dylan! Alex is not your dad. You know that."

Dylan looked guilty but said nothing.

"You told the other kids that Alex was your dad?" Norma demanded when her son hung his head low. Norman watched them from his booster seat in the back. His eyes curious and alert.

"Why?" Norma asked feeling the hot sting of embarrassment by proxy.

Dylan refused to answer her.

"Dylan you answer me!" Norma demanded harshly.

"He's better than my real dad. Better than Sam." Dylan explained sadly.

"Dylan." Norma sighed and drove slowly home. "You lied to your new friends. You told a lie. Alex is not your father."

"If you got married-"

"If we got married he still wouldn't be your father." Norma said harshly. "You need to understand that."

Dylan's face flushed hot and he looked angry.

"Your father's name is John Massett and I know he doesn't want anything to do with us, but he's your father and that won't ever change." Norma snapped. "If Alex and I ever got married he would be your step dad and nothing more."

"No." Dylan argued.

"Dylan." Norma sighed.

"I don't remember my real dad and he's not here. He wasn't here today and he never has been here." Dylan told her. His lower lips starting to tremble slightly as they pulled into the driveway of their home.

"Dylan." Norma sighed.

"I don't want to talk to you!" her oldest son shouted. His face red with sudden anger that made her think only of Caleb. All she could see right now was Caleb when Dylan was this full of rage.

~ "We need to sure up the house." Alex said when he got home. Norma had watched him pull sand bags from the back of the police SUV and what looked like a new and expensive looking machine into her garage.

"What?" she asked.

"Weather report says we've got flooding coming our way and it's going to be bad." Alex sighed heavily. "We've got to put those sandbags around the foundation so that water doesn't get in. You're on high ground, but there's a valley just bellow you that will flood pretty quickly. If it rains as much as the report says it will-"

"We need to talk about Dylan." Norma interrupted.

Alex looked at her curiously.

"Can it wait?" he asked. "There's still daylight and I want to get the house surrounded before it rains again."

Norma looked at him curiously.

"This isn't Arizona, Norma." he told her. "Flooding here is serious. Water levels get dangerous very quickly and then there's the water temperature."

Norma rolled her eyes in frustration and nodded.

"Okay." he said. "We'll talk at dinner. Dylan!" he shouted.

~ Many hands made light work and with the size of the house and the unexpected help of two willing boys, the chore was done in less than an hour.

"What was in the box?" Norma asked. "That thing in the garage?"

"Generator." Alex told her. "You'll lose power."

Norma felt anxious at the idea of losing power long enough that she would need a generator.

"Should I go to the store?" she asked.

"No." Alex told her calmly. "You've got enough food."

He suddenly seemed indifferent to the potential of life threatening flood waters.

"I just wanted to get you and the boys ready because I won't be here for a few days." he said. "I'll leave Graceland."

"What?" Norma asked once everyone was back inside and Dylan was helping Norman pull off his rain boots.

Her oldest giving her an angry look.

"I'll have to be with the department. When a big storm comes in, there's always a lot for us… to do." Alex said awkwardly. "I've got some wood and I'm going to cover that broken window on the back door." he added.

"Okay." Norma conceded sadly.

~ Rather than tell him about Dylan, she decided to cook dinner as Alex went around the house and secured things against the potential flood. Dylan went with him, to help out and Norma noticed the sky darkening sooner than usual and the rain falling heavier that normal.

"It's okay." Alex said when Dylan brought new heavy duty flashlights into the house.

"Are sure?" Norma asked. She'd never been is a real flood before. Not one that needed this much preparation before.

"I'm sure." Alex told her calmly.

"What about the farm house?" she asked suddenly remembering that lovely old car and his mother's elegant greenhouse.

"It's on high ground I've already secured it. Besides it's been there for a hundred years already. It's not going anywhere." he told her.

Norma nodded and remembered his rental house.

"My landlady already has it taken care of." he assured her.

"Okay." she said nervously. "What if the streets flood and we can't get out?"

"I will come and get you." Alex told her. He shrugged and nodded to Graceland. "Can't leave my dog, can I?"

"Alex!" she whispered and tried not to worry when the rain started to fall heavier.

"Norma, the whole department will be on call for at least a week. I want you and the boys here where it's safe. I've got flashlights and some really powerful walkie talkies that are tuned to a special frequency so we can keep in touch incase the phone lines go out. You'll be fine." he told her.

Norma looked down at her cooking and realized her hands were shaking. She lowered the flame on the stove before she burned the pasta.

"Dylan told me what happened at school today." Alex said. Norma felt his hand press into the small of her back when he moved closer.

"I'm sorry. He shouldn't have done that." she whispered. That feeling of embarrassment creeping up all over again.

"Nothing to feel sorry for. It's hard for other kids to understand. Maybe he didn't want to explain." Alex offered.

"It was a lie. He knows better." Norma said feeling angry again at how Dylan had behaved.

"I thought you'd be more upset that his teacher was hitting on me." Alex said with that mischievous smile that was all Simon Romero.

"I'd only be upset if you were hitting on her back." Norma grinned.

"Oh, no." Alex shuddered and looked slightly repulsed. "I can do a lot better."

Norma giggled slightly and remembered the real problem.  
"We need to talk to Dylan about this." she told him.

"I know." Alex agreed. "But it's not a big deal."

"Yes, it is. This is how big problems get started, Alex." Norma sighed.

"People here know I'm not his real dad and if Dylan wants to think of me that way I have no problem with that." Alex told her.

Norma turned off the burner just as the power flickered, but stayed on.

"We've only been together for a few months now." she said softly. "We're talking very seriously about a life together, a family together."

She shook her head.

"My kids are getting really attached, really fast. Especially Dylan." she added.

"And?"

"I mean, it's not just you and me. It's not just our lives. It's his life. It's Norman's life. If this ends between us, it would upset Dylan. Especially if he thinks of you like a real father. He's already lost so much confidence in men." Norma admitted.

"You always think the worst is going to happen." Alex shook his head. "You're always so ready for it. So prepared for it."

The power snapped off and the house went dark.

Alex lazily picked up the new flashlight and a safe bright beam illuminated the kitchen just as Dylan and Norman came rushing into the living room with their own flashlights. Both of them shouting in excitement.

Norma looked around at her newly flood proofed home.

"I'm not the only one who prepares for the worst." she told him.

 **Doctor Bloch's name is modeled after Robert Bloch who wrote "Psycho".**


	54. Chapter 54

54.

~ "So if they we were ever captured, we were trained to cross our fingers and put them over our hearts like this." Alex demonstrated to Dylan over the candle lit dinner table. The little boy looked at him in fascination at he recounted his training in from his days in the Marines.

"That way our rescuers would know we were hostages." Alex told him.

"Why fingers crossed?" Dylan asked.

"You know how when you promise something and cross your fingers so it doesn't count?" Alex asked. Dylan nodded and Norma smiled.

"Sometimes bad people would make their captives say everything is okay when they were really hurting them." Alex explained.

"Okay." Norma interrupted. "That's enough. I don't want you to give him nightmares."

"Mom, I need to know this!" Dylan protested.

"He needs to know this." Alex grinned.  
"No, he doesn't. He's not going to be captured by Nazis or anyone else. Alex, I packed you a lunch and an over night bag with plenty of dry socks." Norma said as the rain continued to fall down in sheets.

"You read my mind." Alex looked wearily out the window.

"You really have to leave for a few days?" Dylan asked.

"Afraid so." Alex said while Norma checked the phone line again and found it was still dead. She felt anxious that there was no communication with the outside world except for the walkie Alex was leaving with her.

"I want you boys to stay inside and look after your mother. Grown ups get washed away all the time in water like this so stay indoors." Alex ordered the two boys when he took his plate to the sink.

Norma registered his kiss goodbye on her cheek and tried not to feel worried. She'd been alone before, but why was she actually scared this time?

"Hey." Alex whispered. "It's just a few days. It's going to be fine. Just use the walkie if you get worried."

"Okay." she nodded and put on her best smile. She didn't want the boys to be afraid. If they saw she was scared then they would be upset. Alex didn't seem at all worried about the storm and he was the one having to face it.

"Do we have to have baths tonight?" Dylan asked.  
"No." Norma shook her head as Alex gave Norma one last hug goodbye. "There won't be school tomorrow so we can all sleep in my bed tonight."

"Remember what I said about staying inside and looking after your mother." Alex said again and ran a hand over Norman's head and patted Dylan's shoulder.

Then, he was gone. The storm swallowing him up and Norma could barely see the lights of the SUV flashing it's hazards as it slowly maneuvered out of her driveway. Part of her hoping he would get stuck in the ditch and have to stay with them till the storm was over. But he was careful and drove out safely. He didn't come back home for three days.

~ It had ben hard sleeping with all the horrible rain. It sometimes felt like the roof was going to collapse in and drown them all. The sandbags kept the water well away and Norma was thankful they were on high ground, but she could see the valley Alex had mentioned before. It had quickly become a river and flushed out deer and all sorts of wildlife.

Norma saw a bear ambling out of the trees when the storm had cleared that second morning. It had looked grumpy and shook off water it's thick coat before it looked directly at Norma through her breakfast window, and kept walking.

She had been holding her breath the entire time the exchange happened before she made sure the doors to the house were locked and the boys were safe in bed.

"Just stay in the house." Alex's voice sounded far away on the walkie when she contacted him about the bear sighting.

"Alex it was **bear**!" Norma said in an exasperated whisper. She had locked herself in the bathroom so the boys would hear but she was afraid to leave them alone for any period of time. What if Norman saw something outside and decided to go after it?

"A hard rain like this drives all kinds of big animals out onto higher ground." Alex told her in an irritatingly rational voice of a trained law enforcement professional. "I've reported it. It's not the only bear sighting and animal control is on it. It will leave you alone if you leave it alone."

"What if it comes back?" she hissed.

"Keep the doors locked. Keep the boys inside." he told her.

Norma sighed and wished for the hundredth time he was there. She wanted to be able to do things on her own but she felt so much safer in situations like this when Alex was there.  
Alex seemed to sense her frustration.  
"Come on, Norma, you said you liked bears." he teased.

She smiled a little.

"I like certain kinds." she admitted. "Where are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. We had to secure the hospital and nursing home right after I left you. Then there was some tension at the grocery store with looting. Wilson only gave me a couple of hours under directive 5 yesterday."

"What's directive 5?" Norma asked.

"It's apart of the town charter. It's for men with a family. It's the right for first responders to secure their home and immediate family members against impending danger first. I knew your house wasn't up to code for a flood like this." Alex explained.

Norma felt something turn over inside her. It was like that time she was walking on a frozen lake with Caleb and fell in. The ice so cold that when she went in, it she didn't feel the cold or pain at all, only shock. Mostly, she felt the sensation of being upside-down and unable to correct herself. Unable to find her way to the surface because she couldn't tell the difference between the darkness and light. Then Caleb had violently grabbed her by her jacket and yanked her out of the water. His ape like hands stripping off her coat and shirt and wrapping her in his own coat before hauling her off of the ice. The whole time Norma was too shocked to even scream. Later on she did scream from the pain finally reaching her. It took forever for the cold and the pain to find her.

"Norma?" Alex asked. "Norma? You there?"

"We're your family?" Norma asked hesitantly.

She felt the silence linger between them over the radio waves of the walkie. Felt that he was a little uncomfortable by it.

"I didn't overstep again did I?" he asked.

"No." she said. "No. I just…" she ran her fingers over the hem of her robe.

"I know." he said. "Let's worry about the details after the storm is over."

"Okay." she nodded and felt herself smile.

"Don't worry about bears and keep the doors locked. No matter what they tell you." he teased.  
"Alex!"

~ By the third day the sun was out and the road to Norma's house was clear. Her power wasn't on yet and she still refused to let the boys play outside. She wasn't over seeing the grumpy looking bear shaking off all that water from his coat. True he hadn't seemed aggressive, but she didn't want to get on the wrong side of an animal that large.

Alex had radioed in a few times a day and made it seem like all he did was rescue kittens out of trees when he talked to the boys. When the boys were out of the room, Norma knew things were pretty bad around town even if he didn't go into much detail.

"How's Graceland?" he asked.

"Bored." Norma sighed. She didn't mention how she disliked keeping the dog locked up in the house. Graceland wasn't trained to use the bathroom indoors and Norma was afraid to let her go outside in case she'd be eaten by a mountain lion or something. So she had to let her do her business in the attached garage and put Dylan on poop patrol.

"It's almost over." Alex promised. "I'll be the next shift to come home and then I'll be home for a whole day."

"Just one day?" Norma asked disappointedly.

"The power will be back on today and the schools will be open tomorrow." Alex said hopefully.

"Just in time for the weekend." Norma sighed.

~ It was noon when Norma decided that the rain had stopped for good that day. The sun was out and she could at least let Graceland out to sniff around the front yard. The poor dog need the exercise and the boys needed the fresh air to.

She kept an eye out of any large animals that might wander up through the trees but saw a few of her neighbors had come out to do general clean up of their property as well.

Norma decided it was a good idea to inspect her little house to and found everything looked sound. Her roof looked to have held up well and Alex had packed the sandbags tightly around the foundation. The valley below her back yard, which was still a river, was a ways off proving the house had been built on the high ground. She'd been lucky.

A car honking and the dog barking brought her back to the front of the house where Dylan and Norman were holding Graceland back. The big police dog barking aggressively at a man in a high end luxury car.

"Mom!" Dylan shouted for help.  
"Graceland. Heel." Norma commanded and the dog, attentive to the nice lady who gave her bacon and eggs when her partner was away, sat obediently on her haunches and waited to be ordered to maul the intruder.

Norma bent down and looked into the driver side window of luxury car.

A nervous looking young man smiled back at her.

"Dog doesn't bite does he?" he asked.

"Yes. **She** does." Dylan said hatefully.  
"You're George. Christine's brother?" Norma smiled at the anxious young man who always struck her as slightly too thin.

"Yes!" he smiled. "I just came to check on you and the kids here. With all this awful rain. I know you're on your own."

"Our dad made sure we were okay." Dylan said in cool voice.

Norma rolled her eyes in frustration at Dylan.

"I need you boys to go inside or go clean the garage. Take the dog with you." she said curtly.

Dylan gave his mother a judgmental glare before bringing the dog, along with Norman, inside.

Only after the large dog was inside and it was safe, did George come out of his car.

"Cute kids." he said as if making polite conversation.

"Dylan was being rude. I'm sorry about that." Norma said. She ran a hand over her messy hair and realized she hand't showered in three days. "We've all been a little on edge since the storm hit. You caught us on a bad day."

"You should see Christine." George smiled. "Everything was fine until the wine ran out. Got into a real Lord of the Flies situation there."

Norma grinned and waved at the empty front porch chairs.

"I'm glad you came over. I guess Christine mentioned to you I was looking for a lawyer." Norma said.  
"Said something about it." George told her. Norma noticed that unlike the rest of them, George looked clean and his clothes were without a single wrinkle. Wherever he'd ridden out the storm, Norma was sure it was with power and hot water.

"I'm sure you know what happened to my late husband Sam Bates." Norma whispered once they were seated on the porch.

"Yes." George said uncomfortably avoiding eye contact. "Deputy Romero shot and killed him."

Norma nodded.

"Now you're dating him." George pointed out.

Norma was prepared for this and didn't shy away from it. She wasn't about to apologize for her relationship with Alex.

"Sam had broken into my home and was hurting me. Broke my arm so badly the bone stuck out the skin. When my oldest son managed to flag down help I was in shock and couldn't even speak. Deputy Romero saved my life." Norma corrected him coldly. "It's unfortunate my late husband was too intoxicated and violent that night. He was warned to stop and Alex had to defend himself and me. And my young children." Norma finished sadly.

"I'm sorry." George said and looked truly humbled by the fact that she'd survived a horrific incidence of domestic violence.

"It's alright." she said.  
"I shouldn't have said that." George stammered awkwardly.

"It's fine." Norma insisted. "It wasn't that long ago. Alex and I, we were the only ones who really understood what it was like that night. How horrible it was. Makes sense we'd become close over it. I get that people gossip now. We knew that going in. Sheriff Wilson warned us to."

"Intense situations can really bond people." George added. "I was in a white water rafting challenge one summer and…"

He glanced and Norma and smiled.  
"It's not important. I'm here to talk about you and your needs. Tell me, what do you need a lawyer for, Norma Bates?"

~ "After Sam died the county took custody of his body and I never claimed it. I was on too many medications for the pain." Norma said. "So there was no funeral or anything. It took some time for these insurance adjusters and other people to find out what happened. He was estranged from his family and I have no way of contacting them."

George looked over the documents that had arrived through the mail that had terrified Norma. She had brought out the papers from her hiding place under her closet floorboards and the two of them sat on the front porch well away from the boys hearing.  
"Did you respond to any of these creditors?" he asked.

"No." Norma said quickly.

"You're going to call them tomorrow and say you do not accept responsibility for **any** of his debts and that his estate has been liquidated and settled. I'll draw up a letter of probate today and have Judge Enid sign it." he said.

"Some of these are for back rent." Norma said nervously. "Places we lived at… and skipped out on."

She was embarrassed to admit that to this nicely dressed person who obviously had money. Who never didn't just pay a bill and didn't do something as tacky as skip out on rent.

"If you pay any of Sam Bates debts the other creditors will smell blood in the water and they will come after you." George said seriously. "There is a nice piece of life insurance here for you and your children. Properly invested, you can keep your government assistance and have a very good college fund the boys."

Norma felt dizzy at the idea of a college fund for Dylan and Norman.

"Won't I have to claim it?" she asked.

George shook his head.

"No." he smiled. "We're giving it strait to the boys. We're going to open two accounts with a wealth management team in Portland on Monday and transfer the money to your children. It will never be yours. The government allows a tax free, penalty free gift to your children for this exact purpose, Norma."

"So this is legal?" she breathed. "Even not paying the debts?"

"Your name isn't on Sam Bates' debts." he told her. "As long as you refuse to accept responsibility, they can't touch you or your children. You had filed for divorce and were estranged at the time of his death. You had even claimed abandonment as the cause for the divorce."

"Okay." she said wearily.

"Trust me. We do this all the time. These creditors think they can bully people and a lot of times it works. I want you to not be so nice to them. Call them up and be a little rude. Say, what do you want me to do, **pay** you people?" George smiled.

Norma felt the nervous tension ease a little.

"That would be crazy." he reminded her. "We're not going to pay that jerks debts. Are we?" George asked with a flash of perfectly white teeth.

"No." Norma smiled. Feeling properly scolded, but in a nice way.

"Good. Let me take this paper work. You hold onto that life insurance check and and Monday, I will pick you up at ten and we will drive to Portland to set up a very nice college fund for your two boys. Then, if they don't get into a good school, you can spend it all on a vacation for yourself." he smiled.

Norma felt her face hurt from smiling so much. She hadn't even noticed Alex's SUV had pulled up into her driveway until the door slammed shut.

She and George turned and saw Alex looking exhausted and unshaved, staring at both of them suspiciously.

BTW this was the EXACT strategy I used with my Dad's credit card debts. I literally dragged my feet and sent them copy after copy of the death certificate and said I didn't accept responsibility for the debts and used my inner Louise Belcher when dealing with these people. I was like "Look, no one wants you to get your money more than I do. What do you want me to do? **Pay** you?" In Texas creditors can't make a dead persons kids pay their debts. As long as you don't accept responsibility for those debts your good. The second you pay something, ANYTHING, you accept responsibility for debts. Sucks but it's true. My awesome sister and I kicked ass and finished probate in a MONTH and it's less than a year later and his entire estate including his house is complexity liquidated and creditors can not touch us. EVER. CUZ WE GANGSTA!


	55. Chapter 55

55.

~ "I don't think we've met." Alex squinted at George. He had noticed the easy laughter that was passing between Norma and Christine's brother when he pulled up. How her quickly her expression had changed from happiness to surprise in an instant. It was as if she'd been caught in the act and was hurrying to try and make everything seem like it wasn't a big deal.

Alex had noticed the nice luxury car parked in her driveway along with the fact that they were both smiling at each other.

Dylan had raced out on to the porch just as Norma and their unexpected guest stood up.

"This is George. Um…Christine's brother." Norma clarified. "He came to check on us."

"That's nice of you." Alex nodded when George glanced nervously at Norma. He was holding what looked like a stack of papers in his hands and there was a sudden tension of unspoken things between them when they looked at each other.

Dylan tugged on Alex's shirt and forced him to look down at the child. He saw Norma's youngest pat his heart with his two fingers crossed in the secret code he had taught him. His head nodding back at George.

Alex nodded and waved for Dylan to go back inside.

"Well, I'm glad to see everyone is okay." George said in an awkwardly loud voice.

"We're fine." Alex said allowing the interloper to leave. He glanced at Norma who met his gaze unflinchingly.

"Thank you, George." she waved back at him with her radiant fake smile. She glanced back at Alex and there was defiantly at coldness passing between them as they waited out the long seconds for George's car to make it's less than graceful exit out of the dead end lane.

"It's not what it looked like." Norma said at last.

"What did it look like?" Alex shrugged.

She rolled her eyes in frustration.

"I didn't invite him here. He just showed up." she told him.

"Okay." Alex nodded.

"Alex." Norma said in a stern tone. "That's the truth."

"I know. I believe you." he said. "What were you two talking about?"

She looked uncomfortable.

"What?" he asked.

~ "Why didn't you tell me about this?" Alex asked. He leafed through the copies Norma had of all the insurance notification and bill collectors with Sam's name on it.

"Because I didn't know what to do!" Norma insisted. She felt tears welling up and hated herself for crying. Hated herself for always crying when she didn't want to. "I didn't want to worry you, Alex. This problem seemed too huge. There's ten thousand dollars in debt here and they were saying I owed them and it scared me! Then this insurance company came along and it seemed like the answer to everything and that scared me to because if I got this money I knew I could easily spend it all in just a few years just trying to get ahead. I wanted to be smart about this. This was my one chance to get a better life for the boys. If I wasted it, if I was stupid or lost it on some bad investment, then we'd have no finical back up. Christine mentioned her brother was a finical lawyer and I asked if he could recommend someone. I had no idea he would come to the house like this."

Alex shrugged off his all weather jacket and tossed it on her bedroom chair. He had forced the boys to stay inside even though Norma felt the water levels looked safe.

"So, after everything, after everything we've told each other about our lives, you couldn't tell me this? Norma, this is fixable. This is money. Money is a fixable problem." Alex sighed in irritation.

"You only say that because you have it!" Norma snapped without thinking.

She looked away from him and her vision blurred with tears.

"Norma."

She refused to look back at him.

"Norma, look at me, please." he asked.

She shook her head and looked out the window and the small valley that was still a river.

"You know, you take me to your family farm where you grew up with all this security of knowing who you are and where you come from." she said with her voice shaking. "To this beautiful house with five bedrooms and…"

"Norma?"

"I never had that growing up, Alex." she said. "We lived in a van. We lived in abandoned houses with no electricity and no running water. You always had a real house to go to when things got bad. I didn't. You accuse me of preparing for the worst, because I always had to. I always had to be ready for it. When things go bad for me, it meant I had nothing. Sometimes less than nothing. When things go bad for me now, I'll have two boys depending on me to look after them. So I have to think of them first. I have to think of them first and everyone else second."

She was shaking as she spoke but she didn't regret what she said for a second. She still didn't look at him.

She looked out the window again when Alex's weight sank on the bed next to her.

"I didn't realize it was bragging." he whispered. "Taking you to the farm house like that. I just wanted to show you that I could provide for you. That… you didn't have to be so damn independent all the time. That you could let me help you. That you could let me help you now. I want to help you now."

Norma sniffed and hated herself all over again for crying.

"I didn't feel like it was bragging. That much." she sighed. "It's just…"

"What?" Alex asked.

She finally looked back at him.

"I thought I was in love with Sam. We just clicked so fast and I was willing to leave John for him. It turned sour after I found out I was expecting Norman. I found out he lied about a lot of things. I stayed for Norman and because I didn't know how to leave. I didn't have the ability." she admitted shamefully.

"You're worried that if we rush into this, if we get married and move in together and start a family… things turn sour… you won't be able to leave." Alex concluded soberly.

Norma looked away and out the window.

"You do like to worry." Alex sighed. He laced his fingers with hers and brought her hand up to his lips. Kissing her hand gently.

"I call it preparing for the worst." Norma whispered.

"I call it planning for failure." Alex said darkly.  
"It's no different from you putting sandbags around the house." Norma told him.

"That's to protect my family. There's a difference." Alex said with a slight smile. He clasped his other hand over hers protectively. "Because I **knew** something bad was going to happen and needed to protect them. I don't put sandbags down on the off chance the storm comes. That's no way to live."

Norma smiled a little.  
"Thank you. For calling us your family." she said weakly. "That made me… um… really happy."

"Doesn't look like it did." Alex nodded at her tear stained face.

"Well, it did." she smiled softly.

"We have a year before the house is even close to being ready." Alex admitted. "With this storm, it might take even longer."

"A year is good." Norma nodded.

She let out a long breath and looked at him.

"If it all goes to hell and we split up?" she asked. Her worst fear was being homeless with another child by a third husband and no income to speak of.

"Well, you've got your pick of excellent divorce lawyers here in town." Alex mused. "Knowing the women here, you can break my heart, take half my money and make me beg you to do it again."

"Oh, I would never do that." Norma sighed contentedly. "Once would be enough."

She glanced at Alex and saw him smiling.

"You didn't honestly think I would go for someone like George did you?" she asked.

"He's rich and he drives a nice car." Alex said childishly.

"He's ugly and my kids hate him." Norma laughed. "Also Graceland almost attacked him so that should tell you something."

"She smelled lawyer on him." Alex said suspiciously. "It's her favorite food."

"I've been feeding her bacon while you were gone." Norma said dryly.

"Norma."

"She's a good girl and she attacked that awful man who tried to break into our house." Norma snapped.

~ The power came back on an hour later and Norma insisted Alex be the first one to make use of a hot shower and to shave off the three days worth of unchecked facial hair he'd grown.

She didn't want to mention how much she detested it, but she really preferred him to be clean shaven.

The boys were happy to have power back even though Alex told them it still wasn't safe to be outside alone yet. Tomorrow they would all go into town together before he had to go back to work. Not today. No arguments.

After Alex came out of the bathroom from his shower, he went, zombie like, to their bedroom and was sleep for nine hours strait. The boys having to stay quite the whole time which was a challenge for Norma in such a small house when no one could go outside.

She managed to pass the time with them by reading to Norman while Dylan worked on puzzles they had been trying to complete during their time shut in like this.

"Why cant we go outside?" Dylan whispered at last. "The rain had stopped."

"Alex thinks the water is still to high." Norma whispered back when she finished reading to Norman and her youngest was almost ready for his nap.

~ When Norman was down for his nap and Dylan was bored with puzzles and willing to watch anything as long as the TV was on, Norma finally turned on the TV. That was when she found out what Alex had really been up to those long days when it had been raining non stop over White Pine Bay.

"Dylan, go to your room and take a nap." Norma ordered when she saw this she didn't want her son to see.

"Is that here?" Dylan asked worriedly when and image of the flooded bay appeared on the screen and police SUV's were blocking traffic and moving people away from certain disaster.

"Go to your room." Norma told him.  
"Is Alex on TV?" Dylan asked when she pushed him out of the living room.

"Go." Norma hissed.

She raced back to the living room and sat close to the TV with the volume as low as she could get it out of fear of waking Alex and of Dylan overhearing.

The news reporting about the terrible storm that caused the bay to overflow and to breech part of the village proper. How several people were killed just trying to evacuate that first night. Including a young family with two small children had drowned when their car had over turned in the rush of flood water. How an elderly couple, both handicapped, were found dead in the flood waters yesterday by Sheriff's deputies, after they were trapped in their home. The news showing the local supermarket had been looted that first and second night and Norma was sure she saw Alex and even Sheriff Wilson in bright yellow rain coats wadding through knee high water.

Then came the most tragic of news. How a young girl that very morning had been playing alone out in her back yard in the sunshine and, feeling safe, had stepped into the rushing water, not unlike Norma's newly formed river outside, and been carried away and drowned. The water only a few feet deep, but strong enough to pull her away.

"The family of three year old Bradly Martian could not be reached for comment and the Sheriff's department is investigating this tragic occurrence." the reporter said.

Norma gasped and shut off her TV as if the new of that little girl's death might somehow contaminate her family.

They showed a picture of Bradly and Norma recognized her immediately as the little blond girl Norman had so innocently kissed at Christine's party the other night. The little girl had been so sweet and beautiful Norma couldn't think of her as dead.

No wonder Alex demanded the boys stay inside.

~ When Alex woke up, he felt as if he could still sleep for another day or two. His feet were sore and his knees hurt and nothing could shake the chill out of his bones.

He rolled over and realized slowly Norma must have come in and put an extra blanket over him at some point while he slept. That she was cooking something nice that smelled like beef. The delicious fragrance of herbs roasting and potatoes cooking was enough to rouse Alex awake and he was suspicious as to what would make her cook so extravagantly when normally she was efficient and thrifty when it came to her cooking.

"That generator saved everything that was in my freezer. Thought we might enjoy it." Norma said when he stubbled groggily out of the bedroom to see Dylan and Norman watching a movie on the VCR. Another habit of Norma's broken. She normally hated the boys to mindless watch movies or TV, and insisted they find entrainment on their own.

"What's smells so good?" he nodded to the oven.  
"Pot roast." Norma smiled and Alex picked up on her fake smile. Mainly because it was so bright and faltered so quickly.

"I take it you saw the news." he said.

She looked as if the wind had been knocked out of her.

"Bradly Martian." she whispered.

"I know." he nodded sadly.

"Were you there?" she asked in horror.

Alex refused to answer right away. Refused to tell her how he'd helped put that little girl into a body bag. Mrs. Martin so drunk she wasn't even aware Bradly was out of the house, let alone dead. How a neighbor had called it in when she noticed a strange 'doll' had washed up in her backyard and realized it was a little girl. How Jerry Martin had been so angry with his wife, it took every man there to hold him back from killing her.

Alex had thought the worst part of the storm was pulling that flooded SUV out of the road knowing there was a family still inside. All of them dead and the children still safely buckled in their car seats. Or when he'd had to help Maggie Summers to an ambulance after some looters had attacked her at the grocery store and she wouldn't stop crying and shaking. That her only crime was being at work when someone decided they were going to panic and take everything and hit the check out lady in the head with baseball bat.

Maggie couldn't stop screaming over the injustice of it all. Romero had caught the guilty party when their truck stalled in the high water and they tried to wade out in the freezing waters. One of them didn't make it, which was it's own justice. The other two were picked up by good neighbors and brought into the same hospital Alex had been taking Maggie's statement at. Romero recognizing the description as soon as they were brought in and asking the victim for a positive ID.

Then the bay overflowed that night and the real hell began. Norma and her bear sighting were the least of Alex's worries, although he was glad she was okay. The nursing home where Simon was as had lost power and was flooding. There was concern of where to take the patients and residents of the hospitals and nursing homes, but the waters never got that high and there was not call to evacuate the town.

Alex had checked on Sybil who was smart enough to stay at City Hall for the entire disaster and Simon refused to budge from his small apartment for even a second.

No, Alex had thought the worst was over when he responded alone to that odd call from a neighbor about a strange doll. The older woman was his former high school art teacher and met him on the front lawn.

"Oh, Little Bear. I… think she's dead." Mrs. Roxanne Glass said holding a hand to her chest and looking wide eyed and frightened. It was the same look she always had, even when teaching. She hand't changed much in fifteen years.

Alex walked out alone to Mrs. Glass' backyard and stopped when he saw the girl's blond hair and red rain coat and matching boots. Bradly's skin was already blue from the cold flood waters that had pushed her body into Mrs. Glass' backyard.

"I thought she was a doll at first, Alex." Mrs. Glass sobbed as if she were responsible. "I thought she was a little doll."

Tom Wilson saw the strain was getting to Alex and told him to take the day off and go home to Norma and the boys. That the worst was over.

~ Now, Alex looked at Norma and shook his head.

"No, I wasn't there." he said. Lying as easily as he could because he couldn't tell her the truth.

He nodded to the boys who were watching TV with blank expressions.

"We'll take the boys into town tomorrow. Do some grocery shopping." he said.

Norma looked back at him and nodded slowly.

"What do we tell them?" she whispered. "About Bradly?"

"Nothing." he shook his head and shrugged off the image of that little body in that water. "They didn't know Bradly. It was a tragic accident. No need to confuse their world."


	56. Chapter 56

56.

~ Alex Remembered Charles "Chick" Hogan as the tall, strange kid who seemed to have drifted along the fridges of society and liked it that way. Chick was several years younger than Alex so they were never in school together, but a kid odd as him was noticed in a small town. Especially when his great hight was added to that oddness.

Alex knew all about Chick's run in with the law. How the Old Bear had arrested him for a bar fight and how the man had died from his injuries. Chick had been eighteen when he was sent to state prison for five years. The story behind the ugly incident was that the man was Chick's drunken uncle and he'd once more beaten his wife half to death. Chick had made the mistake of not walking away from the family violence.

Alex had no fear about hiring Chick to do repairs to the farm house. Chick wasn't a violent man. His great hight and build meant the lesser creatures scurried away from him as if they had seen a California Condor or other massive bird of prey. A creature that might not hurt them, but was still terrifying when you saw it unexpectedly and up close.

Besides, Alex knew Chick hadn't been idle in his time in state prison. He learned a skill and his reputation in wood work, glass and metal was quickly spreading all over town as being worth putting up with the oddities. After the flooding, there were precious few contractors to choose from right now.

"We'll have to replace this beam." Chick said slowly running a hand over one of the foundation beams that had been laid decades ago. "You don't have any sentimental attachments to it, do you?"

The giant looked at Romero if expecting the smaller man to burst into tears at the thought of losing a foundation beam.

"So how long, Chick?" Alex rolled his eyes.

"Just to secure the foundation is going to be six weeks worth of work, Alex." Chick said in a normal voice. The giant refusing to call him deputy. He probably didn't recognize any government structure that would fall when the aliens attacked.

"That's if the weather stays this nice and the ground stays dry. We're going to have to get a whole new roof to. You've got options for this climate… but." Chick shrugged.

"Fine." Alex sighed. He knew the roof would have to be completely replaced and parts of the foundation would have to be sured up. The rate things were adding up, he might as well buy a new house.

"We should start with the foundation. Get rid of all the rot. Then do the roof before the next rain comes. I hear there's more flooding in a few months and this roof will hold for another year. Might as well get all we can out of it." Chick said.

"No, I want to move my family in as soon as possible and I've got work to do inside." Alex nodded for the giant to follow him indoors.

By the light of day, things looked better. Well, not that bad at least.

"Rest assured the man who created vinyl wood paneling is burning in hell." Chick said when he had a chance to look around the living room.

The giant unsheathed a massive hunting knife and Alex felt a rush of fear that Chick could very well gut him like a fish with such a weapon, but the giant simply used it to wedge apart some of the wood paneling and peer under it.

"Sheet rock is still sound. No mold so far as I can see. Looks like the Old Bear just nailed it up. It's an easy fix." Chick said.

"Good I can do all that myself." Alex nodded.

"You'll want to hang onto the lovely shag carpeting I suppose." Chick asked in a slightly high pitched voice as he did a little pirouette across the living room.

"No." Alex shook his head. Not amused by the giant's sense of humor. Chick made quick work of cutting across the carpet and pronounced the hardwood was fine as well.

It didn't take long for the two men to walk through the rest of the house and create an estimate for what Alex wanted done to the place. Including fixing the upstairs bathroom and perhaps adding a third bathroom downstairs.

"So what are we up to now?" Alex asked.

"Foundation, roof, new siding, I think about twenty-five thousand." Chick said casually. "Cash only. I don't take checks."

Alex felt a little sick at the idea his entire savings would be wiped out so quickly on this one project. He had to remind himself that he would essentially be owning a new home with no mortgage and that it would be worth it to stop paying rent.

Still, he doubted he could find a licensed contractor for this price who would do as good a job as Chick. Sam Harlow, who was president of the town's Archanam Club had hired Chick just last year to make repairs and Alex had seen the results himself. Chick had even done stained glass work for the windows and all Sam could do was brag about how cheap it was and how this giant creepy guy would sleep in the club's basement most nights.

"Alright." Alex extended his hand and Chick shook it.

"Cool." Chick said. "I'll set up camp and get started today."

~ "Camp?" Norma grinned when Alex told her about his curious yet productive morning with the giant.

"He's a little eccentric. He's probably going to stay at the farm house while he's fixing it up." Alex told her.

They were making dinner together and Alex hadn't commented yet on the new lavender colored outfit she'd worn to Portland that morning. Her own day having been just as productive with securing the boys' college fund thanks to George.

She had wanted to dress a little nicer, but the outfit was wool and itchy and slightly matronly with the way it came down past her knees and elbows. Still, George commented on how nice she looked and Norma didn't like how he'd put his hand on the small of her back when he lead her into a room.

George's hand felt creepy and alien to her. Fingers that were too weak and cold. They were soft and almost like the hands of a girls, only slightly larger with wider knuckles that made Norma shudder when she thought about them. Alex's hands were strong, large and always warm when he touched her. His hands had wonderful callouses that were distinctly male and when he put his hands on her, her entire body seemed to want to move with him, not away from him like it did with George.

"You look very pretty." Alex nodded to Norma's woolen outfit that she now felt frumpish in. She was glad her make up was worn off and the poof in her hair was out. She wasn't sure why she had bothered to dress nice at all that day. She certainly wasn't trying to impress anyone. Just being in that expensive looking office with those smart people who were talking about money was intimidating and she wanted the protection of nice clothes and make up.

"George took me to Portland and we set up the boys college fund." Norma sighed.

She didn't miss the slight twinge in Alex's eye.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"Well, he talked non stop about all the great things he's done with his life." Norma rolled her eyes. "All the jobs he took without experience like I'm supposed to be impressed."

She let out a sigh and shook her head.

"How is it that rich people think that living like a poor person is cool and trendy?" she asked in disbelief.

"I don't know, but the Helden's have always had money." Alex told her. "They can live however they want."

"It was kind of insulting that he was telling me all these tales of making it on his own like he had no other choice. At any time he could have gone back home to his trust fund and he had his education to back him up." Norma fumed slightly. What she wouldn't have given to be raised in Christine's family. To be gifted with a life of extreme privilege and never doubt for a second that you were safe and shielded from life's troubles with the help of money. That an education was a given and that if you wanted to live poor, you could always be rich again.

"I think he was just trying to impress you, Norma." Alex said calmly. "Trying to make you think he was just like you."

"He's not." Norma sighed. "Surprised you didn't know him better. You're both from here."

"Fifth generation." he admitted. "And Christine and her two brothers went to school in New York. Some fancy boarding academy."

"It must be nice." Norma said dreamily.

"Not always." he admitted dryly. "It's still New York."

"I meant you. To know where you belong. To have a history. To walk around town and know it inside and out. To be apart of it. Invested in it." she said. "It must be comforting to see so many people you've known all your life."

"Who always know my business." he shrugged.

"To never feel like you're fading away and being forgotten." Norma told him.

"I wish." Alex huffed. "Everyone here knows you to, Norma."

She grinned.

"Only because I'm dating the most eligible bachelor of White Pine Bay." she teased him running a dish towel over his ear.

"Yeah, an eligible bachelor no one wanted." he said darkly.

"Not until you rescued Norman and had your picture in the paper." Norma smiled. "Then, all I heard about was how heroic you are."

"I saw you saved the recent clippings." Alex nodded to the fridge where Norma had cut out the front page color photo's of Alex in the yellow rain coat with SHERIFF in bold black letters on front. Alex was looking angry that the news was there but that certainly didn't detract from how handsome he was just then. The heroic deputy was standing in front of a black SUV that had been pulled from a ditch. It's doors ripped off and the bodies already taken away.

"A family died, Norma." Alex reminded her sadly.

"I know." she said. "But I want to keep all your newspaper clipping and unfortunately…" she trailed off because they both knew that each time he'd been front page news, it was because of a death.

"I get it." Alex nodded.

"You looked very handsome." Norma stood on tiptoe so she could wrap her arms around his neck.

"My other girlfriend thinks so to." he teased.

Norma giggled as his lips gently pressed against hers.

"I'm really glad we're fixing up the house you grew up in." she whispered. "I think it's going to be really beautiful."

"It better be." Alex groaned clearly lamenting his savings being wiped out and having to start over with next to nothing in the bank when he married Norma.

"It will be. It's going to be great." she whispered.  
"Mrs. Bates. That sounds very optimistic." Alex smiled.

Norma shrugged.

"I don't know, I feel like nothing but good things are going to happen for us from now on." she smiled.

~ "We found Keith Summers' body, Alex." Tom Wilson said coldly in his office that morning.

Alex felt his mind go blank. At first he had to think who Keith Summers even was. So much had happened from the time he went missing a few months ago till now.

"Where?" Alex asked.

"The bay." Wilson said calmly. "His body was pretty badly decomposed and it took a while to get an ID on it, but it's him. We think all the rain and flooding must have dislodged whatever was keeping the body sunken down there."

"Cause of death?" Alex asked.

"No way to tell. Too much decay." Wilson said. "His sister was brought in this morning and we showed her his watch, the ugly one, and she said it was his. Showed her on the map where he was found. It was near the old campgrounds."

"I see." Alex sighed.

"Do you have anything you need to tell me, Alex?" Wilson asked.  
"No." Alex said with as much believability as a child who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"You have a family to protect. One that he threatened. Keith Summers was no good. We all know that. I can understand if things got out of hand." Wilson said sympathetically.

"If by out of hand, you mean he probably go so drunk he wandered into the bay and drowned, then yeah." Alex sighed. "Tragic."

"Alright." Wilson snapped. "We have no cause of death. Summers wasn't short on enemies who would have liked to do him harm. I know that I'm an outsider to this community and you've all closed ranks to protect whoever has done this. Hell, even the county coroner isn't willing to do more than a preliminary on the body."

"Tom you're being paranoid." Alex said with a forced smile.

"Am I? You and this entire department as well as his sister have shown very little interest in finding Keith Summers. Less concern and interest than any other case we've ever worked Alex. So you tell me."

Alex counted to ten in his head.

"Sounds like it was just an accident, Tom. We'll never know for sure." Alex said at last.

~ After his shift was over, Alex didn't go home to Norma. He ran a few errands, checked on Chick's progress at the farm and then went to see Maggie Summers.

Maggie still had the stitches on her face from the attack during the flooding. Although the bruising had gone down a lot and Alex was glad to see that she looked more like herself.

"Alex? What are you doing? Why didn't you knock on the front door?" Maggie asked. Her large eyes growing even wider when she saw him.

Alex looked around the deserted road where he stashed the SUV and had walked up to her house to avoid notice.

"I didn't want anyone to see. Can I come in?" he said nodding to the inside of her small house that made Norma's place look like a palace.

Maggie nodded and waved him inside.

Alex took a second to appreciate Maggie's style of decor. Everything here was thrift shop chic and most likely that's where Maggie did her shopping for home goods. The old, decaying smell of cooking bacon and other greasy foods for years in this small kitchen him like a hammer and her noticed how the grease even seemed to stick to the walls.

The adjoining living room was heavy with second hand furniture and mismatched pillows in varying shades of pastels. The wall art was faded and had no theme and was so out of place it did nothing to enhance the personal space.

The entire home had a very old lady feel to it that had taken Maggie some time to properly cultivate. Alex having the creepy feeling that Maggie would soon become that crazy woman at the end of the block with about a hundred cats that all the local kids were afraid of.

"They found Keith's body, Maggie." Alex sighed and looked at the small woman. She had aged even more since she was attacked during the flooding.

Alex noticed the stack of newspapers on her kitchen table. The color photo of him in front of that flooded SUV was on top.

"I know." she said meekly. "Is that why you're here, Alex?"

"That day Norma and I stumbled on him at the campgrounds?" Alex reminded her. "I came back here and told you where your brother was. You remember? You were out in the back yard and you told me it would be better if he was gone. Then he goes missing and no one is really interested in finding him which isn't surprising."

Alex looked at Maggie's sad face for any kind of clue.

"What happened to Keith, Maggie?" he asked.

"Who knows?" she shrugged.

She looked up at the deputy.

"What's Sheriff Wilson say?" she asked.

"He's suspicious of everyone. Including me." Alex nodded. "Especially since I told him what you said Keith wanted to do to Norma. Something I'm not even sure is real or not, Maggie."

She looked at her shoes.

"How do I know you didn't make all that up just to get me to kill your brother for you?" Alex asked.

"Did you?" Maggie asked.

Alex leaned away from her. He'd had enough of this small house that smelled like fatty grease and musty things. He wanted to be home with Norma where everything was clean and nice and orderly.

If someone like Keith Summers had bothered Norma for even one second, she would have killed him herself. Not tried to get someone else to do it.

"I don't know what happened to your brother." Alex said. "For all I know you went out to that camp ground and killed him."

"Lots of people wanted him dead, Alex." Maggie told him. "Not just me. Not just you. I didn't lie either. About what he said. About Norma Bates."

Deep down, Alex knew she wasn't lying. Maggie Summers wasn't the lying type. She lacked the imagination.

"If Wilson comes around, what do you say?" Alex asked.

"I don't know." Maggie said. "I know know what happened to him."

"Good." Alex said. "Then I won't have to come back here."

"I saw you." Maggie said when Alex was turning to leave.

He paused when it sounded like an accusation.

"I saw you with Norma Bates and her two boys after the flooding. Going into the grocery store. In the parking lot? You looked like a real family. You were holding the hand of her little boy… Norman? There were still a lot of people and cars and he looked so scared, but then he looked at you and he wasn't scared. It was very sweet." Maggie said.

Alex was breathing hard at the way her voice sounded so desperate. So agonized over seeing him with Norma and the boys.

"You looked like you belonged with them. She's very lucky to have you." Maggie said.

"Goodbye, Maggie." Alex said and quickly left.


	57. Chapter 57

57.

~ Norma hated her life.

At least how it looked on paper. When she took the time to transcribe her life to the sister she'd never met, it seemed very boring and unremarkable. Norma had only finished high school. She had **barely** finished high school thanks to night classes, but there was no need to put that int he letter. She'd eloped with John after finding out she was pregnant with Dylan and seventeen; and become a mother before she was even old enough to vote. Norma didn't mention anything at all about her first or second marriage. Making it seem as if the boys fathers were simply phantoms and were better off forgotten.

She wanted to focus a great deal about Norman and Dylan. How good at sports Dylan was and sweet and kind Norman was. How she planned to tell them all about their Aunt Violet.

Norma had think of an excuse as to why she'd never made contact with Violet before now. Why she'd run as far and as fast from her parents as she could when she was still a teenager with her own child on the way.

Her pen wouldn't move when she tried to write out something to say about her childhood. About their shared parents and why she hand't made herself known till now.

"What are you doing?" Alex stumbled into the kitchen out of the dark hallway.

Norma looked up and realized it was past midnight. She had been trying to write this letter since the storm and still hadn't been able to finish it.

"My letter to Violet." Norma sighed in futility. She rested her cheek on the palm of her hand and wished she'd lead a more exciting life. Or perhaps a less exciting life. She wasn't sure which.

"That's nice." Alex said kissing the crown of her head. "Does it have to be in the middle of the night?"

"I couldn't sleep." she said bitterly. "I got a nice letter from Violet's adoptive mother Vivian right after all the rain and she sent me some pictures."

Norma took out the envelope with he expensive stationary and the three candid photos of her kid sister smiling happily. The last was a professional photo shoot of the family and all of them were dressed nicely and looked like they belonged together.

Norma had gasped at how beautiful the mother was with her long, honey blond locks and bright smile. The father looked like Remington Steele with his dark hair and blue eyes. Together they made a gorgeous family and Norma felt slightly envious that she couldn't have been adopted by Ben and Vivian Harman as well.

"Can't get over how much she looks like you." Alex sighed. "It's incredible."

Norma smiled as he massaged her shoulders.

"I don't think I smiled that much when I was her age." she sighed dreamily.

"She's lucky then." Alex reminded her. "Maybe you can put that in the letter."

"No." Norma shook her head and shook off his hands from her shoulders. "No, I don't want to tell her anything about our parents or about Caleb."

"Ever?" Alex asked.

"No. There's no need." Norma shook her head. "I mean, why burden her? She's going to have a good life. Why trouble her with how horrible she could have had it?"

"Someday she'll want to know." Alex said. "She'll look to you for answers."

"Well, that's **someday**." Norma said stubbornly. "Today she's still a little girl and she only needs happy things."

She looked dubiously at the stuffed unicorn she'd bought for Violet at the high end gift shop in town. She wasn't sure what her little sister was into, but what little girl didn't like unicorns?

"Do you think she'll like this?" Norma asked nervously holding up the white unicorn with the indecent horn.

"How could she not?" Alex smiled. "I wish you'd let me keep it. I could add it to my collection."

"Be serious!" Norma groaned when she saw that playful grin spread across his face.

She re-read the letter she had written to Violet and pronounced it good enough.

"Okay." she said shakily. She handed it to Alex. "What do you think?"

He smiled in amusement when she gave him the handwritten letter to proof read for her. Alex had always teased her for her overly girlish script even though she knew he secretly liked it.

"Violet," he said finally serious. "I was so glad to hear I had a little sister and was very happy when your mom sent me pictures of you. You are very beautiful and you're going to be a very beautiful young lady someday. I'm so lucky to have a little sister of my very own. I've always wanted a little sister. Your big sister's name is Norma and she lives in a small town called White Pine Bay, in the State of Oregon."

"I wanted to keep it simple." Norma interrupted.

Alex nodded and read on.

"It's way across the country from where you live, but don't worry. You can always pick up the phone and call me when your mom says it's okay. That's what sisters do. I'll always listen and help you when I can. I'm a grown up, with two boys very close to your age. Is that strange to you? Don't worry, my sons Dylan and Norman are very nice. Dylan likes baseball and Norman is very quite and sweet. I like to cook and play piano. I bet your really good at a lot of things to. I'd love to hear about them."

Alex put down the letter and glanced at her.

"I wasn't sure what else to write about." Norma said worriedly.

"I think its' fine the way it is." Alex said.

"I didn't mention you." she pointed out guiltily. "I didn't want to say, I live in sin with my boyfriend."

"It's the best way to live." Alex said with a raised eyebrow.

Norma rolled her eyes and collected some recent snapshots.

"I've got the picture of all of us." she added but then pointed out one of the few pictures of her and Alex together. It had been just after the storm when they had, as a family, gone to the farm and Chick had offered to take a good picture of the four of them under one of the shade trees. The boys quickly running away after the click of the camera and Chick telling Norma and Alex to stay still for another photo of just them.

Norma had liked it so much she had several prints made and decided to send one to Violet.

"Its' up to you, Norma. You know how to handle these things. I think Violet will be able to handle her sister having a boyfriend." he said and kissed her forehead before standing up and turning in for the night.

"Don't be too long." he said.

Norma nodded and re-read her note.

She slowly wrote:

 _'My boyfriend's name is Alex. He is a Sheriff's deputy here in town. He's going to come with me when I see you in a few weeks. He's very nice and he's my best friend in the whole world even though he's a boy._ '

She had to smile at that last part and thought her six year old sister might understand the fact that Alex was more than just boyfriend. Alex really was her best friend even before they became something more. She had always trusted him more than she trusted anyone.

~ Alex looked over the final report on Keith Summers. The papers had reported, half heartedly, how his body was found in the bay a few days after the flooding had eased. The tides retreating and exposing all kinds of debris from the bay. Local treasure hunters, guys with metal detectors mainly, were out looking for lost items had found the washed up remains and the medical examiner could find no proof of any foul play.

Maggie had Keith cremated quickly as soon as his body was released back to the funeral home and the service was held in private. No obituary was even in the paper. It was as though Keith Summers never existed at all.

In a strange way, Alex felt sad about how his old friend had left this world. Keith wasn't always bad. As kids, they had gotten along well enough. Keith had gotten a bad lot in life and never had enough fortitude to recover from it. Instead he'd spent his time lamenting over the rotten series of bad luck that was thrown his way and had lost his family their fortune. Alex had his own troubled childhood with an abusive father and a manic depressive mother. Yet he'd had Simon and Sybil to look out for him. He'd had his own groundings in reality that let him accept life as it was and over come it.

It allowed him to live in the real world and carry on. Make a decent life for himself. With Norma, he could now hope for a better future that was free of such anger he hadn't realized he'd been holding onto for so long.

How easily Alex could have ended up like Keith Summers or even Jimmy Brennan for that matter. Only last week Alex had to give Jimmy a warning after his wife had called them to the house for yet another domestic complaint. Jimmy had been drinking again and their daughter was in tears as the two adults were shouting childish insults across the filthy living room.

Alex and another deputy having to separate them and ensure that Mrs. Brennan wasn't coming back to her husband again. That this time, the separation was real.

Alex knew it wasn't. Jimmy and Heather were high school sweethearts and their daughter Cody was Norman's age. Everyone had said it was a huge mistake for them to get married because they both couldn't get along, even when they were dating, and as newlyweds, Alex had thought they would divorce any second or kill each other.

To the town's horror, Cody came alone and the baby already looked angry and resentful at being the offspring of such wretched parents.

Sybil had become involved, even having to bring a deputy with her when Jimmy or Heather were too drunk or belligerent to talk to her.

After the latest run in with Jimmy and Heather and seeing little Cody in tears and knowing Sybil could do nothing about it, Alex had gone home to Norma, thankful that all he had to worry about with her was leaving dirty clothes on the floor and heaven help him if he didn't rinse a dirty dish.

That her worst infraction as a mother was forgetting to wash Dylan's favorite T-shirt for school or not putting Norman to bed with his stuffed dog.

That night he picked Norman up when he came home and felt the little boy's body against his own. How reassuring it was to hold the child after the day he'd had. Norman was fragile and almost birdlike in the way his body was built. Norma assuring him he'd be tall and all arms and legs when he was grown. For now, he was very thin no matter how much his mother fed him.

Norman wasn't the most responsive to touch. Not like Dylan and Norma were. He certainly didn't respond to Alex as readily as the other members of the family did. Tonight though, it was different. The little boy wrapped his thin arms around the Deputy and hugged him back while his mother and brother were arguing in the kitchen about something for school.

"What's wrong, Deputy Romero?" Norman asked in a concerned voice.

Alex smiled. All this time Norman wouldn't call him, or any adult by their given name.

"I just needed a good hug." he said.

"Oh." Norman said. "You usually hug mother."

"I know." Alex admitted. "Sometimes I think I don't hug you enough."

"Oh." Norman said.

Alex released Norman from their slightly awkward exchange but kept the little boy lifted in his arms so they were still eye to eye. He'd read that was important in communication. Especially if you wanted in convey trust.

"Norman, I'm really glad we're friends." he said.

"Me to." Norman said simply.

"I'm not just Dylan's friend or your mom's friend. I'm your friend to." Alex pointed out again.

"I know." Norman said easily. "Mother smiles a lot more with you here."

Alex glanced at Norma who wasn't paying them the slightest attention. She and Dylan were talking about some school project now.

"I'm glad." he said turning back to Norman.

"Dylan says you're going to be our dad." Norman said.

"Would you like that?" Alex asked.

Norman shrugged.

"It would mean we would be a real family." Alex said.

"I thought we already were." Norman said looking confused.

"Well, I guess it would be more official." Alex admitted.

"What does that mean?" Norman asked.

"It just means that papers as signed for the government." Alex told him. "That's all."

"Oh." Norman said.

"What are you two doing in there?" Norma called. "Come to dinner!"

~ Alex was surprised when Norman wanted to show him something after dinner and his bath time. Norma's youngest was private and very independent. She could trust him to get to bed on his own even though he was still young, he didn't require too much attention after his bath like other kids.

So it surprised Alex when Norman came out of his bedroom holding a picture book for the Deputy when he and Norma were doing dishes.

"Go!" Norma whispered delighted that her youngest had finally taken an interest in Alex. Norman had always treated the intruder just as a house cat would treat anyone. With bored indifference and general distrust.

"You want me to read to you?" Alex asked when Norman gave him the picture book and got into the bed.  
"Yes." Norman said. "It's about animals."

"I see. You like animals?" Alex asked.

"Yes."

"That's good." Alex said and quickly read the picture book that was all about interesting facts about different animals.

"Bears hibernate during the winter months." Alex pointed out. With a smile. "They climb tees faster than they run. They eat fish, berries and live in North America and parts of Asia and Russia."

"That lady took me to see bears at the zoo." Norman said casually. "They didn't do anything. We're they hibernating?"

"What lady?" Alex asked.  
"The lady who sometimes takes me places." Norman told him.

Alex tried to think about who Norman could be talking about. There were no zoos in White Pine Bay. Could Norman be confused? Could he have dreamed he went to the zoo?

"You mean Tess?" he asked. "The lady with the chickens?"

Norman shook his head.

"The ladies who run your day care?" Alex asked.

"No. The **other** lady. She comes by and takes me with her. We go on long car rides and to all the nice places." Norman explained easily.

"When did this happen, Norman?" Alex asked. He could feel his blood turning cold and he suspected that the little boy wasn't making this up or imagining any of it.

"A few times." Norman shrugged.

Alex pretended it wasn't a big deal. He didn't want to scare the child.

"Ok." he said. "Where else did you go?"

"She took me to a place with rides. We had fun. She said I was her friend. It's nice because she's nice and it's just her and me." Norman explained.

"I see." Alex said trying not to show how upsetting this was.

He was glad Norma wasn't there. Glad she wasn't privy to this new piece of information about her son.

"Norman, what does the nice lady look like? What did she say her name was?" he asked.

"She's really pretty. Not as pretty as mother." Norman said eagerly. "She had red hair and wears nice clothes and lots of makeup. She drives a nice car to. She says she's your friend and that you and mother told her to take me places because you and mother have to work all the time."

"She takes you out of daycare?" Alex asked in disbelief. He could see Rebecca now. That malicious nature of her plotting the perfect revenge of manipulating Norma's son and making him think she didn't have time for him and didn't love him.

Norman nodded.

"Yeah." he said. "She said she has time to spend with me. That she likes me."

"Ok." Alex smiled. "Well, I want you to go to sleep now."

"Is everything okay?" Norman asked. Alex could see once more how Norma's children all had her eyes. That same color blue flashing and changing color with their turbulent moods.

"Everything is fine, Norman." Alex lied. His heart was beating fast as he tried to keep calm and not let onto Norma that her child was being kidnaped from daycare by his ex without their knowledge.


	58. Chapter 58

58.

~ "You want to take Norman to day care today?" Norma asked suspiciously. She eyed Alex as if already sensing his anterior motives. "Why?"

"Norman and I finally have a good thing going." he whispered to her as if they were apart of some great conspiracy. "You know how long it's taken him to open up to me. I don't want to lose it."

"Well, his booster seat is in the truck and it's a pain to move it to your SUV." Norma said reluctantly.

"It'll be fine I'll just buckle him into the regular seat." Alex told her.  
"Without the booster seat? What if you get pulled over?" Norma asked.

Alex gave her a slightly amused look.

"Fine." she rolled her eyes. "Have it your way."

~ Norman was indifferent to having Alex take him to anywhere. It seemed the child was passive about most things so long as they stuck to a very strict schedule and thing happened in a certain order. Alex had never noticed before how Norman arranged his things when packing for day care. His mother fixing his lunch box and Norman putting his coloring book and toys in his bag.

Unlike Dylan who threw things in a backpack and hoped for the best, it was as if Norman thought his toys were living objects and cared about their comfort when they were out of his sight.

"Norman, your'e going to stay with Tess today." Alex said when he reached for the child's hand once he helped him out of the SUV.

Norman looked at him strangely at the news he wasn't at the daycare. Then, he recognized he was required to hold hands with an adult and quickly took Alex's hand. He knew the laws that he couldn't cross a parking lot or street without holding an adult's hand. That such a law to a child was as unbreakable as gravity.

If he felt comforted by Alex's presence over his mother's, he didn't show it. If he preferred daycare over Sheriff Wilson's house, he didn't show that either. His face remained unimpressed as always.

"Thanks for taking him today." Alex said when waved the little boy inside.

"Not a problem." Tess said with her usual serenity. "Is everything okay?"

"It will be." Alex assured her. "Will you be able to watch him for the rest of the week?"

"Sure." Tess said. "Norman is an angel and I enjoy the company. He likes the chickens."

Alex noticed Norman had situated himself on the back porch and was carefully taking out a few of his toys from his bag. He tried to wave to the child but Norman ignored him.

~ "Alex?" came an excited and happy voice when Romero wandered into the red school house daycare. He turned and saw Freddie, dressed in bright colors as always, the only thing changed about her was her shock of gray hair coming out to greet him. Other than her gray hair, the woman was untouched by time.

"Alex." she grinned happily and he was little surprised to find she was shorter than he was. The woman smelling like cocoa butter and something sweet he couldn't put a name to.

"Hello, Freddie." he said wearily.

"Long time no see." she grinned and rested her arms around him as though they were related. "You're looking well. How's Norma?"

"She's good." Alex nodded.

"Where's Norman?" Freddie looked around the daycare's main room and saw Norman Bates cubby are wasn't filled with his lunch box or bag.

"We need to talk." Alex said.

~ "How is that possible?" Alex barked and had to remind himself not to jump out of his seat when Freddie raised a hand for him to keep calm. It was her passive way to bring order to the kids without shouting. It worked oddly enough. Even on him, and even as an adult.

"Lower your voice." Freddie said softly.

Alex took a deep breath.

"How can someone just sign out a kid? Someone who isn't related to them?" he asked in a calmer voice even though he felt himself trembling slightly with repressed anger.

"It's always been out policy that it take a **village** to raise a child, Alex. It's something your own mother subscribed to. We've always depended on the women of this town to help look after the little ones. Often times the kids will have doctors appointments and the moms cant leave work. The kids will get sick and the parents or other relatives can't pick them up. So, we have a phone tree or fall back people who come and take the little ones to their own house. Your mother was good about that till you were born. She'd always take kids to the doctor's office just like Miss. Hamilton does with Norman." Freddie explained.

"Rebecca isn't taking Norman to the doctor. Norma, didn't sign off for this." Alex insisted.

"I'm afraid she did." Freddie said. "In fact, Norma is apart of the program to. Especially after the flood we all have to help each other, Alex."

"Rebecca Hamilton isn't a parent." Alex said. He felt like he was losing his mind. This made no sense.

"It doesn't matter." Freddie shrugged. "Your mother wasn't either and she was our best caregiver."

"Rebecca is not taking Norman to any doctor's appointments. Norman has no doctor's appointments." Alex insisted.

"We've had calls from an office in Portland saying that he does and the Miss. Hamilton would be picking him up because Mrs. Bates would be working. She always comes at the correct time with a signed note for the doctor's office and returns him within an hour before his mother picks him up." Freddie said in confusion.

"Did you ever think Rebecca Hamilton was the one calling you pretending to be someone from the doctor's office?" Alex said feeling irritation at blind the trust this old hippie lady put in people. "She could have called here and said anything and had you turn over Norman to her for a few hours no questions asked."

"The note." Freddie said defensively.

"She could have forged a note easily." Alex sighed.

"Computers?" Freddie asked as if she'd been horribly tricked by technology.

"Look from now on, Norman Bates is not to leave this daycare unless his mother or myself is taking him." Alex said.

"I can't do that, Deputy." Freddie said. Her eyes wide. Alex noticed this was the first time she called him by his rank.

"Why?" he asked darkly.

"Well, you're not Norman Bates' parent. You're not his father or stepfather. Your the mother's boyfriend. That's all. You have no legal rights or say so. I have to report this at once. Rebecca Hamilton needs to be arrested!" Freddie cried. Her panic starting to boil over just when her hand hit the receiver of the old land line phone on her desk.

Alex quickly stopped her by putting a hand over hers.

"Freddie." he said calmly.

The old hippie lady looked at him. Her eyes wide with fear.

"Right now, the only two people who know about this is you and me." he said a cool voice. "If you report this, Wilson will have to investigate. He will. Your daycare has never had a black mark against it in over thirty years. Never so much as one accusation of wrong doing. Norman is fine and his mother will never know about this."

Freddie's lip trembled slightly.

"What… what about that awful Rebecca woman? She was kidnapping him? She lied right to my face, Alex! How could someone do that? What if she had hurt him?" Freddie asked.

"I talked to Norman last night." Alex said soothingly. He moved Freddie's hand off the phone and away from exposing them both to Wilson. "It sounded to me like Rebecca was just… wanting to play mommy."

"With someone kid?" Freddie sniffed.

"Yeah." Alex nodded. "Don't let her volunteer here anymore. Don't let around the kids."

He looked at her knowingly and Freddie nodded quickly.

"I'll handle Rebecca." he assured her. "For now, keep what happened to yourself. Don't let anyone you don't trust around the kids."

"Okay." she whispered.

"Freddie?" he said soberly. He hated having to do this to a woman who had been so kind to him as a child and to his mother. Who'd been so lovely to Norma and her son.

He swallowed hard and made his blood run cold as ice so he could say what he had to.

"If I find out you've been letting kids go off with strangers again, Wilson and I… we'll burn this place to the ground." he said darkly.

Freddie looked terrified.

Romero saw her life's work being lost over such a simple lapse in judgement. Of trusting a nice looking woman who dressed well and presented documents she hadn't bothered to call Norma about. Thirty years of working in this business had made it too invaluable to depend on the help of other parents.

"I understand." Freddie said.

"Good." Alex said.

~ Norma was at work when Alex called her.

"What?" she laughed trying to fill out an order sheet for Hilary. They would need all kinds of things for the some big Halloween party next month and Hilary insisted on planning now.

"I want you to come home." Alex said again. His voice sounded boyish and insistent. Like he wanted a cookie before dinner and she was having to tell him no.

"Why?" Norma asked with a smile. She could tell he was up to something.

"We'd have the house to ourselves." He told her lazily. "We can be as loud as we want."

"Alex, I have to work." she reminded him.

"Tell them one of the kids is sick." Alex told her.  
"I can't. Ruth's daughter is in Dylan's class and she would know, that's a lie." Norma grinned. "And everyone in town uses the daycare so they know who's got what there. Besides, don't you have work today, **Deputy**?" she teased.

"Come on, it'll be short." Alex said.

"Well, if it's short why would I want it?" Norma asked before she could stop herself.

"Ouch."

"You set me up for that."

"Still though."

"Hurts?"

"Yeah. You're a harsh lady, Mrs. Bates." Alex said in wounded voice. "Especially since you know it's not true."

Norma snorted a laugh.

"We don't need to go into all that." she said finishing her shopping list for Hilary.

"I think we do." Alex said defensively. "You made a point of telling me how I had to be careful with it. I seem to recall you even said-"

"Alex!" Norma hissed feeling her face go hot.

She could sense he was smiling on the other end of the phone line.

"I want you to come home." he said again. Almost like a spoiled child now.  
She felt an urge, a passion twitch inside her that he'd stirred up thanks to this phone call. This demand to see her and how he only wanted her for one thing. It sometimes felt wonderful to be desired this way. To be wanted for something more than just cooking and cleaning and taking care of children. To have her body feasted on as if he were a delicacy and that she was desired sometimes for nothing more than sexual release.

"Okay." she grinned feeling her face go hot again and her body come alive at the giddy prospect that his hands would soon be all over her.

~ She almost ran a red light hurrying to get home. Norma was unwilling to admit that she was feeling like a stupid reckless teenager when she sped down the lane to her house and happily saw Alex's SUV already parked there.

She leapt out of the cab, realized she left the truck's key's in the ignition, turned the engine off and took them out. Raced into the house and was greeted by her lover with as much warmth and enthusiasm as she could ever want.

"There you are." he breathed happily as soon as she was in his arms.

Already she felt her legs go weak and her panties were embarrassingly damp.

His breath was hot and violent on her neck while his hands pulled savagely on her dress. The zipper slipping down her back till the cool air was hitting her overly heated skin. Her lover stripping her before even taking her to the bedroom.

"Alex?" she mewed helplessly when his hands expertly released her bra and she was helps in just panties that were dangerously wet now.

She could feel his need for her without effort. That intimidating hardness pressing menacingly between her legs like a delightful torment of what he would do to her.

Her lover's lips grazed savagely over her neck and lips while he pulled off the belt that held the cumbersome side arm and handcuffs. The thing making a loud clattering noise when he carelessly set it on her coffee table.

Norma wasn't idle in her efforts to unclothe him. Her hands pulling and undoing the buttons of his shirt and peeling away the black undershirt he always wore, till he was bare chested. The well toned arms she always admired, there for her to enjoy. The feel of her bare breasts on his chest was heaven and felt even more naughty when done in the living room like this.

"Let's go to the bedroom." she whispered feeling slightly awkward. After all, they were standing in front of her bay window and even though no one ever came down the lane, she still felt exposed with the curtains open.

"I don't think so." Alex grinned.

Norma gasped when he lifted her up and carried her, cave man style, to the kitchen table.  
"Alex!" she protested when he laid her down gently. Pulling her hips to the edge so he'd have better access to what he wanted.

"Alex we're the kitchen!" she gasped in alarm. Her son's drawing were on the fridge and they had eaten breakfast right on this table only a few hours ago.

"I know." he smiled wickedly and leaned over to kiss her.

She felt her body go weak and her legs slacken at his kiss. She couldn't resist him. He pulled her in like some kind of force.

"Alex?" she whimpered softly when he slipped her panties off and she sensed his pants coming down. She felt his fingers massage her folds in a light tickle to test her readiness. His other hand fondling her breast till her hips bucked with a sudden small orgasam.

"Alex!" she cried. His hands savagely pulling her hips closer till her bottom was almost off the table. Her lover, because that's all he was now, was rubbing her between the legs almost abusively bringing her to required readiness.

Before she even realized what was happing, he'd taken her. She felt him slide in so easily that her body moved joyfully with his entry. Her conquer looking beautiful as he rode her with each slow and malicious thrust. Her body, a things she hated just now, sent shockwaves of pleasure and sensory overload throughout, till she wasn't sure what to believe or not.

"Just breathe, baby." Alex was saying and Norma found she was shaking as another overload of pleasure rocked her till she hated him and more than anything.

"It's okay to hate me." he smiled and kissed her breasts.

Norma opened her eyes and realized she must have said that out loud.

"I'm sorry." she cried.

"No, you're not." Alex grinned and she felt him wipe away tears she didn't know she had cried.

"No, I'm not!" she growled as her body betrayed her again and she felt that loss of control spasm through her as the strong desire to suddenly kill him rip through her. A thing she'd never experienced before was happening and made her body shudder in fear and happiness.

Her lover was restraining her on her own kitchen table and she was in some strange world she couldn't describe.

"Alex!" she panted.

"Tell me." he whispered. His hips had mercifully stopped rocking into her and yet she couldn't control the gentle wave that were rolling inside her at having him placed in just such a way.

"Tell me." he said again when she tensed around him.

"I think you're on my G-spot." she whispered. Her voice worried that this spell might be broken if she let her lover know they had discovered some secret that perhaps weren't supposed to know.

Alex stayed still and refused to allow her to move away. He insisted she endure this beautiful suffering. His lips only kissing hers as she tried to find a way back from drowning. It was torture and yet it was heaven. It was ecstasy and at the same time it terrified her.

She'd never experienced this before and he wouldn't let her escape the waves of pure bliss that kept crushing her. That kept pulling her down till she would go insane.

"Baby, I can't hold it anymore." he groaned at last. His own body shaking.

"Then don't!" she cried angrily. Her lust thoroughly overexcited and she wasn't sure if she truly hated him of if she was more in love with him than ever before.

What followed next would leave Norma walking funny for the next few days. They had been far too brutal with each other that day.

Alex released himself with profanity she never would have allowed in her kitchen and rested his head on her breasts.

"I love you." she panted. Her breath coming hard and her body still a riot of over stimulation.

"I love you to." he moaned.  
He found the strength to lift his head up and look at her.

"I don't want to wait anymore, Norma. Let's get married tomorrow." he said.

 **I know that NORMAL daycare workers would never let a kid go off without a parents permission but remember this is a place run by hippies who trust everyone and who were just fooled.**

 **As for the sex, please don't think this was rape. It wasn't I know it kinda read like that but I liked the idea of Alex and Norma being kinda bad to each other and engaging in some kinky sex.**


	59. Chapter 59

59.

~ Norma's legs felt like they were made of jelly and she couldn't stop smiling when Alex helped her to bed. She managed the walk like a newborn calf after he insisted they both take a quick shower before he returned to work.

"You need some rest." Alex observed helping her cover up.

"I'm sure I do." Norma grinned lazily. She could barely keep her eyes open as he tucked her feet under the blankets so she wouldn't be cold.

"I'll get you some water." Alex said and she felt herself dozing slightly under the soothing noise of him getting her a glass of water from the kitchen. She was thirsty, but most just tired. Their ravenous activities had worn her out more than she though possible and Alex didn't even seem phased by it.

"I'll go by City Hall on my way back to the station." Alex was saying. He leaned over and Norma felt him kiss her cheek.

"What for?" she asked dreamily. Surely she had died and gone to heaven. She was warm, safe and comfortable and Alex was there. All was right in the world.

"Fill out the paper work for the marriage license." he told her. "You can sign it when I bring the boys home tonight and we can get married tomorrow morning. We can both take the day off. I'm sure Wilson and Hillary will understand."

Norma thought maybe she had fallen asleep and she was dreaming.

She opened her eyes and rolled over to see Alex was sitting on the side of their bed. He was already dressed for work and looking as dashingly handsome as ever.

"What?" she asked.

"Norma, we have to fill out a marriage license." Alex told her. "There's no way around that."

"That's not what I meant." Norma said feeling like her brain had gone fuzzy. "Did you say we're getting married tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Alex said innocently.

She stared at him wide eyed as if waiting to hear the punchline.

She waited and he stared back at her.

"Alex." she said at last.  
"What?"

"Alex, we're not getting married tomorrow at City Hall." she said feeling that this was an absurd conversation.

"Why not?" he asked.

"WHY NOT?" she asked sarcastically. How could he even ask her that?

He apparently wasn't following her because he stared back, waiting for her to explain.

"What the hell, Alex. What's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing." he said.

"Nothing? We just had the hottest sex of our entire relationship and now you want to hurry up and elope. Why the rush? What happened?" she demanded.

Her brain wasn't fuzzy anymore and she felt wide awake. Although she still didn't trust herself to walk yet.

Alex refused to meet her in the eye.

"What happened?" she whispered feeling a sense of panic.

"Look, I don't know if you noticed, Norma." Alex said at last. His voice a little harsh and she sensed he was covering up something. Putting up those defenses they both knew so well. "I didn't use a condom just now. You could get pregnant and I don't want to make you a mother again before I make you a wife. I think we should just go to City Hall and get married and make everything legal and safe. Take care of you and the boys. Make sure that if there is a pregnancy-"

"Alex, Doctor Bloch put me on the pill over three week ago." Norma said lazily. Irritation clearly ripe in her tone.

"He did?" Alex asked.

She nodded.

"Birth control isn't always guaranteed." he tried to argue.

"Doctor Bloch thinks so and I can feel the hormone change." Norma told him.

"Is it safe?" Alex asked. His features wrinkling in concern and his hands finding hers. "I've heard women can sometimes have a stroke with oral birth control."

"Minimal risk and I don't smoke or drink." Norma said.

"Yeah but-"

"Alex, tell me what's going on." Norma said. She pulled herself out of bed and felt how weak her legs still were. Thankful her lover saw she needed help and caught her before she lost he balance.

"Nothing." he said. "Nothing's wrong."

"Why do you want to get married so soon?" she asked sitting more comfortably on the bed and implored him to look at her.

Alex shook his head and finally met her in the eye.

"Did you know that the day care wouldn't let me make any changes to who's allowed to pick Norman up?" he said. His tone sounded hurt.

"What?" she asked. It was so out of nowhere she wasn't sure what he was talking about at first.

"Norman's daycare. I found out anyone can pick Norman up." Alex explained.

"Yes, for emergencies like the flooding or if I'm in an accident." Norma said. "I'm even on a phone tree to pick other kids up if their parents need help. It takes a village, Alex."

"I didn't like it." Alex snapped.

His large hands cupping hers and his fingers starting to play with hers they way they always did when he was nervous or upset.

"It worried me that someone could just take Norman out of daycare like that and I tried to change it and they said I wasn't his father or even his stepfather. That I had no rights at all say anything. That some, **psycho** , could take him out and I had no right to say they couldn't. All because I'm just the boyfriend and not the parent or stepparent." he said harshly.

"Alex." Norma breathed. She hadn't thought of it that way. She'd always been so trusting of the ladies who ran the daycare and their judgement. Besides, Norman had never left for any reason unless she picked him up.

"So, don't be angry, but I didn't take him to daycare today, I dropped him off with Tess. She's looking after him today and maybe tomorrow. I was upset." he said

"I'll sign something that says you have just as much say at his daycare as I do." Norma said quickly. "It's probably safer that way. In case something happens to me."

"That's not the point." Alex said quickly. His voice was angry and there was a darkness hanging over his features.

He stood up and Norma felt a giddy thrill of excitement rush over her at how good he looked just now. How he had just made love to her and wanted to marry her and be a father to her sons. Her legs were growing weak again.

"It's not just about Norman and the daycare thing." Alex said. "We… we need to get married. Now." he said.

"Why now?" she wanted to laugh. "I though you wanted to get married after the house was done."

"I don't think we should wait anymore." Alex shrugged.

"Why not?"

"We talked about having a baby together."

Norma felt her world going upside-down again. The feeling of falling under the frozen lake and not knowing how to find her way out.

"Alex." she said carefully.

The weakness in her legs was going away as she remembered Norman with the croup and how long it took him to be potty trained. How Dylan had cried when he was teething and all the times she swore she didn't want another baby.

"You said you wanted to try for a girl." Alex was saying in that soft voice that made her not want to deny him anything.

"Alex, I want to wait till the house is done." she said slowly. Her gaze fixed calmly on his. "We haven't even known each other for a year yet and we're already planning for the rest of our lives. Marriage and babies… that's forever."

"I know." he said in a breathless whisper. "That's the point. I want forever with you."

Norma found her legs were working now and she managed to stand up and out of bed. Alex was looking liked a puppy who longed to be adopted from the pound. His eyes were sad but his expression was hopeful she might accept him and surrender to his foolish plan of a hasty marriage after knowing each other for only seven months.

She smiled at how, even though he was a grown man, reliable, safe and capable of satisfying her in a way only a man could, just now he was almost childlike in his need for her acceptance.

"Do you love me?" she whispered.

"More than anything." he nodded and brushed his lips over hers.

"Then I want you to understand that I've been married twice before and I don't want to rush into this." she said. "When the house is done. When we're all moved in, then we can get married. Then we can start our family."

Alex looked a little sad but nodded.

"Okay?" she asked.

"I understand." he said.

"I love you." she told him.  
"I love you to." he said and kissed her gently.

"So is everything okay?" she asked. Hoping that he wouldn't walk away in frustration that she refused him.

"Everything is okay." he said as his lips met hers. "I promise."

~ Alex wasn't sure what had come over him that morning. He didn't regret it, no matter how uncivilized his actions had been. Although fucking a beautiful blonde on a kitchen table could now be crossed off his bucket list.

He had to admit he loved the way Norma could barely walk when he helped her to the shower after. How she seemed on some euphoric drug when he put her to bed. How she couldn't stop smiling and kissing him while they were in the shower together.

Not to mention it was the best sex he'd ever had. Even if it wasn't the most adventurous, he'd never loved a woman like he loved her. Never wanted to commit himself and all he had to one person.

He couldn't live without her and the only way to ensure that she would be with him forever was to marry her as soon as possible. If she married him, then Rebecca would take the hint and leave them alone.

Maybe.

Possibly.

Alex wasn't naive enough to believe that.

Still, he if actually ate this odd looking vegan soup in front of him, he might die.

The Deputy stared at the strange soup of the day that had been quick and easy to order and slipped it back into its' brown paper bag. The soup wasn't the point. The point was that he had an excuse to speak to Rebecca alone and yet in public. She was too proud to make a scene in public. Especially in her favorite restaurant.

She was sitting by the large window again. Dressed in a very nice shade of blue that Alex found off putting for the rest of his life after today. Even when Norma wore that shade of royal blue, he didn't like it.

"Hey." Romero said casually when he sat down next to the slender redhead who was reading a copy of " _Dangerous Liaisons_ " and eating what looking like and gray omelet.

"Hey." Rebecca said with a warm and amused smile. Fancy seeing you-"

"Norma Bates and I are getting married." Alex interrupted curtly.

Rebecca seemed to have stopped breathing. Seemed to have stopped blinking.

Alex took a second to enjoy this revelation and wondered how he ever enjoyed her sexually. She wasn't half the woman Norma was. Rebecca never screamed in pleasure the way his future wife did that morning. Never arched her back like Norma and could barely walk after he'd made love to her like a savage.

No, Rebecca could never compete with Norma.

"Why are you telling **me** this?" Rebecca asked with a sneer.

"I thought you should know." Alex said. "I also think you should know that the daycare won't let you take Norman out for anymore little field trips."

Rebecca raised an eyebrow but didn't flinch.

"I should arrest you for that little stunt." Alex said in a low voice.

"You won't." she said.

"Oh?" Alex huffed.

Rebecca gave him that snide grin that he wanted slap right off her face.

"It's one thing to break into my house and scare the woman I love. It's another thing entirely to fuck around with my kid." he said.

" **Your** kid?" she laughed. "When did Norman Bates become **your** kid?"

"How about I just arrest you right now?" Alex said. "It's what Freddie wanted to do when she found out and she has more than enough evidence. Bringing in fake documents just to take him to the zoo? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You know I think there is something really wrong with that kid anyway." Rebecca sighed as if she'd grown bored with him. "He doesn't talk much. Just kind of stares blankly ahead. I even held a lighter right up to his eye and he hardly blink at all. You deserve that little freak, Alex."

Romero had heard enough.

He had never trembled with such rage in all his life.

Now he understood what drove a man to hit a woman. How his father had been so angry as to hit his mother with all his strength that it had knocked her teeth out.

Deputy Romero didn't hit Rebecca Hamilton that day, or any other day, but it was a near thing just the same. The clatter of the chair falling to the floor as he stood up to handcuff her, made everyone in the cafe turn and look at them in muted horror.

They watched in shock as the always poised bank teller was loudly mirandized by the cold and somewhat rude Deputy Romero. The charge of kidnapping a minor child under the age of five echoed enough for everyone to hear.


	60. Chapter 60

60.

~ "You had better be right about this, Alex." Wilson sighed. The Sheriff was flipping over the arrest report Alex had finished after booking Rebecca and quickly typing out a search warrant for Wilson to sign for the forged documents Rebecca had given to Frankie at Norman's daycare.

Now that the shit had officially hit the fan, he was terrified that Frankie would panic and destroy his only evidence against Rebecca Hamilton. Without those documents and Frankie's statement, he had nothing.

"Norman Bates was being removed from the Red School House Daycare without his mother's permission or knowledge. Miss Hamilton used falsified medical documents to convince the owners she was taking him for routine doctor's visits. She confessed the whole thing to me less than an hour ago, Sheriff." Alex said.

He was growing irritated that Wilson wouldn't just sign off on a damn simple search warrant. All they would need was Wilson and a judge to sign the thing and the daycare would be theirs.

"You know, as a professional curtesy, lets just call Frankie." Wilson said lazily.

Alex felt irritation as the Sheriff casually picked up his desk phone and slowly looked up the daycare's phone number in the phone book.

"Sheriff." Alex sighed.

"You can just wait, son." Wilson growled.

Alex sat impatiently across from the Sheriff like he was back in the principal's office.

"Frankie? Its' Tom Wilson down at the Sheriff's station. I have Deputy Romero with me. Yeah. Yeah Little Bear that's right. Yes, that exactly what I'm calling about." Wilson said calmly and with a kind and understanding tone.

Alex rolled his eyes.

"I know you're upset about it, Frankie but don't be. I don't blame you and no one else will either. I'm going to send Clarice over to get that paperwork that Hamilton woman gave you. You still have it right? Good. Good job. Want you to not touch it and when Clarice comes, she'll put it in an evidence bag for us. Yes, Frankie I'm afraid we had to arrest the Hamilton woman. She committed a crime. Kidnapping. Yes. I will ask the DA to charge her." Wilson looked at Alex who glared at the Sheriff.

"Well, Deputy Romero left Norman with Tess this morning and I'm going to have her take the little booger over to Doctor Bloch for a full medical exam. I'm sure he's fine but we can't be too careful."

Wilson was quite for a while as he listened.

"Frankie, it's not your fault. No, it's not. You're a sweet lady who was trusting that everyone was looking out for the kids. There's nothing wrong with that." he said. "We're not going to shut down the daycare." Tom said as if the idea was insane. Alex disagreed.

Finally, Wilson was able to get Frankie off the line and called Clarice without speaking to Alex.

"Clarice, I need you to run out to the Red School House with a few letter sized evidence bags and gloves. I don't want to send a uniform because I don't want to scare the kids." he said. "You're just picking up a few letters Frankie has. She'll know what it's about. Don't touch it and bring it strait back here to me. No one else. Got it?" Wilson said.

"Um…" Clarice said nervously on the other end. "Yeah… yeah… okay."

Alex didn't think Clarice could handle something like driving out to the daycare and collecting paper, but who was he to judge? Apparently this was Wilson's circus now.

The Sheriff kept ignoring him as he made another phone call.

"Hey, baby." he said and Alex guessed it was his wife. "Oh, everything is fine. Yeah I know I never call you from work. No, I'm not dying. Why would you ask such a thing? I need you to do me a favor, little darling. It seems there's been a some trouble but nothing too serious. This lady took Norman out of the daycare without Norma's permission and it's the kind of thing we need to cover our asses on. Yeah, I know. I need you to take him to see Doctor Bloch and tell him to do a general exam on the boy. Look for any signs of abuse. Usual drill. Yeah. If you could stay with the little one so he's not scared, that'd be great." Wilson said softly.

"No, darling. Norma doesn't know yet. I don't want her to know till we have something good to tell her. No reason to let her worry. Tell Bloch the exam is on the county dime. After he's done, if everything is good and the boy is okay, I want you to take him home to his mother." Wilson said calmly. "Don't tell her what happened. Let me talk to her. Yes, **me**. Tess, it's **my** job. I don't care if you're a woman and a mother. Because I'm the damn Sheriff here."

Wilson looked exasperated and Alex could hear Tess raising her voice slightly over the phone.

"Yes, ma'am." Wilson said smartly at the lecture. "Yes, ma'am. Alright. I'll see you tonight."

"Tess is going to tell Norma?" Alex asked.  
"It would appear that way." Wilson sighed. "Forty years a law man and she's still the judge and jury in my house. You'll see for yourself. When you and Norma tie the knot, you'll find out the wife is really the head of the family and a successful man is nothing without her."

"I can believe it." Alex said.

He pushed down an uncomfortable lump in his chest.

"Rebecca told me that she put a lighter up to Norman's eye and he didn't flinch." Alex said. He wasn't sure why he told Tom this. He had been thinking about this distressing revelation since Rebecca had said it. It had been the thing that had pushed him over the edge. The image of Rebecca being so spiteful she held a flame close to a child's eye just to see him in discomfort. Or in Norman's case, lack of it.

"She's already confessed to kidnapping him, Alex." Tom said. "We already know she's capable of being cruel."

"Why… why would she… do that?" Alex asked in disbelief. "He's just a little boy. He never did anything to her."

"I know you and Rebecca were once-" Tom started to say.

"It's been over since before Sam Bates died." Alex irrupted. "Rebecca hasn't shown any interest in me and I don't know why she'd be so intent on hurting us now."

"Do you think it was her who tried to break into your house? Booking office said she had partially healed wounds on her right hand. Looked like dog bites and Graceland barked at her when she was brought in." Tom said.

Alex shook his head.

"That bitch went after a three year old child. Why try and hurt him like that? Why not just go after me? How can anyone be that evil?" he asked. His mind still playing over and over the image of what Rebecca might have done to Norman when they were alone. How she might have hurt him and the little boy shown no signs.

"You know, it's not our place to bring this up, but Tess mentioned Norman was showing signs of Autism." Tom said gently.  
"What?" Alex asked.

"Autism." Tom said. "It's a mental disorder. Presents itself in early childhood and one of the hallmarks is a slowness to speak and inability to form attachment to people."

"Norman isn't… he's not mentally handicapped." Alex said feeling his blood pressure spike at the idea of what Tom was suggesting.

"No." Wilson said. "Not mentally handicapped. People with different degrees of autism live perfectly normal lives."

"Well, Norman doesn't have it." Alex snapped and stood up. "And do me a favor, don't mention this to Norma. It's bad enough that she has to go through someone messing with one of her kids again. She doesn't need to hear their might be something wrong with Norman on top of it."

~ Norma burst into the exam room to see her son playing peek a boo with Doctor Bloch. Tess giggling and Norman not smiling.

Her youngest had his shirt off and the two adults looked at the winded and worried mother as if she'd interrupted their game.

"Well, mommy is here." Doctor Bloch said with a smile to Norman. "Can you show her?"

Norma didn't understand as the adults looked at Norman who took a deep breath and slapped Doctor Bloch on the side of the head.  
"Little Bitch!" Norman said in high feminine voice.  
"Norman!" she gasped in alarm.

"It's okay." Doctor Bloch said with a smile. "I was asking what his friend had taught him."

"What… what friend?" Norma asked. She looked at Tess in confusion. She had gotten a phone call to meet her at Doctor Bloch's office and thought Norman had had some kind of fall. She'd been assured Norman wasn't hurt, but she didn't understand what the emergency was.

"Was this your grown up friend or your school friend?" Tess asked Norman.

"The lady… with the fancy clothes. She slaps my head… and she laughs. I'm funny." Norman said.

"You **are** very funny and a **very** smart young man." Doctor Bloch said. "But no one should ever hit you for any reason."

Norma could feel a creeping sense of panic wash over her. The same panic that flooded over her when she suspected Shelby had hurt Dylan.

"So, Norman." Doctor Bloch said when a nurse came in to take him to the children's waiting area. "If an adult hits you, what do we do?"

"We tell Mother. We tell… um… teacher… doctor… policeman… nurses…" Norman said slowly. He looked at Tess and posted at her. The old hippie nodded and smiled warmly.

"Good, boy. I'm so proud of you." Doctor Bloch said. "Your mother and Tess are proud of you to."

Norma felt faint as her son didn't smile back but let the nurse lead him out of the room.

"What… what happened? What happened to him?" she breathed when he was gone.

"Sit down before you fall down." Doctor Bloch ordered.

"Just tell me!" Norma almost shouted.

"Tom called me and said Alex had to arrest some woman this afternoon. It seems she had taken Norman out of the daycare using false medical documents." Tess explained in a calm and ration voice.

Norma sat down. She was seeing stars.

"No." she said. "No, they can't do that. They wouldn't let Norman leave with a stranger."

"They did. The woman forged documents saying she was taking him a doctor."

"Who is she?" Norma gasped. Her vision swirling.

"I'm sure you don't know her." Tess said. "Norma, are okay?"

The next thing Norma knew, she was laying on the exam table and Doctor Bloch was shining a light in her eye.

"You're going to be fine, Mrs. Bates." he said. "I know this news is upsetting."

"That woman." Norma swallowed hard. "She… she hurt him didn't she?"

"There are no physical signs of abuse." Doctor Bloch told her. "But Norman has showed us that she had abused him in ways that wouldn't leave physical signs."

Norma felt tears sting her eyes.

Slapping her son on the back of the head where his hair would cover any bruises. Calling him names. All abuse that wouldn't show marks to a watchful mother.

"How… how long? How many times?" she asked feeling sick.  
"Twice." Tess said. "Norman said he went to the zoo and to some amusement park."

"We don't have a zoo here." Norma whimpered.

"I know." Tess said sympathetically. "Norman said they drove a long way."

~ Norma wasn't sure how she would have survived without Tess Wilson. The Sheriff's wife made sure that she got home and didn't lose her mind. Didn't drive to the Sheriff's station to kill this strange woman for abusing her child.

"I'm sure Tom and Alex will be here soon to tell you what's happening." Tess said as they watched Norman playing in the backyard.

"Why does this keep happening to me?" Norma breathed. "I mean, first Shelby and now this awful woman. Why do crazy people keep gravitating towards me?"

When Tess had no answer for her, Norma shook her head.

"My children keep suffering and I'm always powerless to stop it." she said.

~ Dylan seemed to be the only happy one in the house that evening. He'd been picked up from school in the Sheriff's personal SUV with Deputy Romero's SUV with a large police dog right behind it. The kids were excited to see the big dog who Dylan wasn't afraid of and who was held a bay by the handsome Deputy Romero. The tall, silver fox waved to the other kids in his class and shook Dylan's had as if he were a grown up. Standing next to the Sheriff was Deputy Romero as if they were super hero's come to life. The kids in awe that Dylan got to ride home in the Sheriff's SUV and seemed used to it. Meaning he was either a hardened criminal, or a future cop.

Either way, the little girls in his class swooned over him.

~ Once at home, things only got better. He'd never had grandparents, but this must be what it was like. Two older people thinking he was amazing.

"Did you win this award today?" Tess asked when Dylan proudly showed off the paper award he got for most improved neatness.  
"Yes. I got it because I helped a lot more when we do clean up." Dylan explained.  
"Oh, that's so good!" Tess exclaimed and pulled him in a big hug. "Your mother and I will have no trouble marrying you off."

~ While Tess kept Dylan and Norman occupied in the living room, Tom and Alex talked with Norma in private on the back porch.

"Who is she?" Norma demanded.

Sheriff Wilson was silent and Alex felt his blood turn cold. He couldn't hide the truth now.

"She's someone I used to see. A long time ago." he explained.

"What?" Norma gasped.

She looked at him in shock.

"This happened to my child because of your old girlfriend?" she demanded.

"Norma, I had no idea she would do this." Alex said.

"You arrested her today." Norma said. Her eyes were wide and Alex had never seen her so dangerously angry. She almost looked as psychotic as Rebecca. "What did you know and when did you know it, Alex?"

Her words were like acid and he found he couldn't speak.

"Alex?" Norma demanded. "You dropped Norman off with Tess because you didn't trust the daycare. What did you know and when did you know it?"

"Last night." he admitted. "But I couldn't be sure."

"What?" she gasped. Her heartbreak was clearly written on her face. "You knew my son had been taken by this crazy woman since **last night** and you didn't tell me?"

"Norma, maybe Tess and I should take the boys tonight." Wilson offered.

"No." Norma snapped.

It was shocking how beautiful she'd become in her fury. Like a wicked queen in a fairy tale. Her pale skin becoming more flawless looking under the glow of moonlight and Alex was a little afraid of such fearsome beauty.

Her eyes had changed into a violent shade of blue. The same color blue Rebecca had worn that day. The horrible royal blue that would forever be too bold and too savage in Norma's eyes.

"No, I want you all to leave." she said in her stoic, queen like tone. She didn't raise her voice. She didn't even seem angry anymore or upset.

"Norma." Alex said.

"You lied to me." She said focusing those raw, X-ray eyes on him now. "You knew my child was taken by this woman. This woman wanted to get back at you and she took my child. Is she the same person who broke into my house and ruined my car?"

Alex and Tom exchanged looks again.

"I want all of you to leave." Norma said calmly. Her face seemed to form a mask of cruel hatred that still remained fascinatingly royal in appearance.

"Mrs. Bates." Tom said.

"Now!" Norma snapped and Tom, not one to argue with a woman like Norma Bates, knew when he'd been beaten and left.

Defenseless, Alex was left alone against the tiger's wrath.

"Norma." he said.

He could see Tess and Tom waving goodbye to the boys while his mind tried to think of how he could explain himself.

"You didn't tell me." she breathed as cooly as a dragon breathing fire. "You brought me home and fucked me on the table and didn't tell me."

"I know." he said. "I… Norman…"

"I want you to say goodbye to the boys." she whispered.

"What?"

"I want you to tell them goodbye. I don't want you to just leave without saying goodbye." she said.

"Norma, please. Let's just talk about this." Alex bargained.

He tried to pull her close to him but the tiger side stepped him and was back inside.

"Boys!" she called. "Alex has something to say to the both of you."

He watched in horror as Dylan jumped to his feet and Norman looked up with his usual expression of indifference.

"Norma, don't do this." he whispered to her.

"Tell them goodbye." she said hatefully and he felt his heart break at the tears in her eyes. The shade of blue was finally turning back to a lighter color. The color of the sea when a storm was coming. When a long storm was coming and there was no getting around it.

"Mom?" Dylan questioned.

He turned to the boys and couldn't find his words. Forgot how to speak.

"Um… boys…" he said at last. "I'm not going to be around… for a while." he said carefully and looked at Norma who refused to look back at him.

"For how long?" Dylan asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure." Alex said.

"Well… can the dog stay?" Dylan asked.

"No." Norma said automatically.

"It may be awhile." Alex told Dylan.

"Did I do something wrong?" Dylan asked.  
"No." Alex shook his head. "I did something wrong."

"What… what did you do?" Dylan asked. "Why cant you stay?"

"Graceland can stay!" Norman shouted in defiance. The dog looking hopeful at Norma.

"Graceland has to stay with me." Alex said calmly. "She works with me."

"Who's going to keep us safe?" Dylan asked practically.

"Dylan. Alex is leaving. It's nothing you or Norman did wrong." Norma said.

She grabbed her car keys and loosened the truck keys that he'd given her after Rebecca had demolished the old Buick.

He pretended not to notice her trying to give them to him. Nothing would make him leave Norma without a way to get around town. He could never hate her that much.

"If you want the piano back." Norma said when it was clear he wasn't taking the truck keys.

Alex ignored her and knelt down to hug Dylan and Norman.

"Boys, I'm going to see you around town. I want you to look after your mother." he ordered them.

"You don't have to leave." Dylan insisted. "Mom's just mad right now. She'll get over it."

"Dylan, you listen to me and look after your mother and little brother." Alex said sternly.  
"No!" Dylan cried defiantly and Norman looked upset to.

"It's okay, son." Alex whispered and rubbed the younger child's back. He'd always known Norman wasn't affectionate. "It's nothing you did either."

There was an uncomfortable silence that seemed to spin on forever. Alex hoping Norma would give in and tell him she was sorry. She was still a tiger and her need to protect her young was fierce and far more powerful than her love for him.

He stood up and stole a quick glance at her. Her regal beauty was unflinching and as graceful and flawless as ever.

"Okay." he said.

"Come on, Graceland." he said and the dog, thinking they were going to work, jumped down off the sofa and happily went with him to his own SUV.

 **OK. Don't be mad! We know this is just temporary. We have to have some drama. Just think how sweet the make up sex will be.**


	61. Chapter 61

61.

~ "It's just too unreal." Christine said for the hundredth time. Norma sat in the back seat of George's luxury car as the brother and sister duo drove her to the Sheriff's station to give her statement and officially press charges against Rebecca Hamilton.

Sheriff Wilson, not Alex, had called her up that morning and the DA had enough evidence to bring a decent case of kidnapping, but he still wanted to meet with the mother and hear it from her that she never gave her permission to take Norman out of the daycare.

"I still say this is the time to call Raymond." Christine said.

Norma leaned her head back against the expensive leather of George's car. Christine had come over the day after Rebecca was arrested. News traveling quickly in this town and insisted Norma waste no time in bringing a lawsuit against the daycare for gross incompetence.

"I mean you were just lucky Norman wasn't seriously hurt." Christine went on. "Lucky Deputy Romero found out and arrested that crazy, psycho witch. Who knows how long it could have gone on. Remember that baby sister we had growing up, George?" she slapped at her brother. "The one who was nuts and no one believed us?"

"Lets not bring up lawyers right now." George said calmly.

Norma caught him glancing back at her from the rearview mirror. She had been glad Christine had been so talkative and glad that she wasn't required to say much. It was like her words were lost just now. The past two days without Alex had felt like a part of her had died. She was in mourning.

"After we're done at the Sheriff's station, we can get a bite to eat and pick the boys up." He promised.

"Don't worry about them." Christine said quickly. "Rosalie is an excellent nanny. That's what you need, Norma. A live in nanny."

Norma almost laughed at the idea. Christine lived in such a fantasy world, it was actually funny.

~ "Mrs. Bates." DA Donavan Kim said greeting her and George. Norma shook the hand of the nice looking district attorney who seemed to be a career politician, and who, according to Christine, was running for re-election this year.

"I believe you know Sheriff Wilson and Deputy Romero." DA Kim said waving at Tom and Alex.

Norma hadn't seen either men in two days but nodded politely. Avoiding eye contact with Alex all together, but not missing the offended look he was throwing at George.

"George and Christine. I didn't know you were friends with Norma Bates." DA Kim said happily shaking hands and putting on better false smiles than Norma ever could. Maybe it was something rich kids learned in their fancy private school. Only George seemed to be a little more genuine than his sister or the career politician.

"We met at my garden party and Norma here is the sweetest lady in the world. We were just **horrified** this happened to her. We have to take care of our neighbors." Christine said. "I'm going to put her in touch with Raymond Sanchez when this deposition is over, so we will need the transcripts."

DA Kim looked at Wilson.

"I really don't think a lawsuit-" DA Kim said slowly.

"I do." Christine barked. Her expensive sunglasses and casual gold necklace with real emeralds was made to look like her money was effortless, and perhaps it was, for her. Suddenly, Norma could see right though her.

"We're not suing the daycare, Christine." George said. "No one is that greedy."

Christine gave her brother an offended look and hoisted her pricy name brand bag on her shoulder tighter.

"We wouldn't have to. Just the fear of a lawsuit will-" Christine started to say.

"Norma, do you want me to go in with you?" George was saying to her.

She seemed to snap out of some daze where this was all just a bad dream. Somehow she had been picturing herself in the future where they were all laughing about this very day and how it didn't matter anymore.

"No." Norma said quickly. She turned to DA Kim. "It's just a deposition?"

"You can have your lawyer with you if you like." the district attorney said. "I know George is a finance lawyer now, but he and I went to law school together. He knows about the criminal justice system."

"I'll be fine." she nodded to George. "But thank you."

Christine moved in for a hug that was unwanted and unwelcome.

"We will be right outside." she said cheerfully.

~ "Mrs. Bates, this will be quick and painless." DA Kim said once the four of them were seated around a table and there was large video camera pointed at Norma. "There is a recorder on and I just need you to tell the camera here, in your own words, about this incident."

She felt a wash of panic at the idea of being recorded like this. Especially with a strange court reporter taking notes.

"It's Thursday, October 15, 1998… 9:15 in the morning." DA Kim said loudly. "I'm here with Mrs. Norma Bates, Deputy Alex Romero and Sheriff Tom Wilson."

"Anytime." DA Kim said to her.

"Um." Norma said feeling her words becoming lost again.

She looked at Wilson and tried to avoid Alex who was sitting next to her.

 _'_ _Of course he would sit next to me_.' she thought in irritation.

"I'm Norma Bates." she said slowly. "My son is Norman Bates. He's three. He attends the Red School House Daycare in White Pine Bay. Two days ago, on… um.. Tuesday… my friend, Tess Wilson, the Sheriff's wife, called me and asked I meet her at the local pediatric office. I had left work early because I was sick that day, so I was home." she felt her face go a little red at the white lie.

"Tess said Norman was fine but I needed to come. I met her up there, the doctor… Doctor Bloch, Norman's doctor, everyone's baby doctor here… um… he told me that some strange lady, who I didn't know, had taken Norman out of his daycare and taken him places. That she had been violent to him. That he didn't have any injuries on his body but he had signs of being abused. My son showed the doctor how this woman had hit him on the head and called him names." she said. She felt her voice quiver slightly and pulled her arms in and folder her hands neatly on her lap.

"Tess and I brought Norman home and… then Sheriff Wilson and Deputy Romero came to my house after picking up my other child from school and told me what had happened."

"Did you ever give Miss Hamilton permission, verbal or written to remove Norman from daycare?" DA Kim asked.  
"No." Norma said cooly. "I don't know Miss Hamilton and I don't want to know her."

"Good enough." DA Kim said.

He turned to Alex and Norma was slightly alarmed. She thought the deposition was all about her. Didn't Alex as a Sheriff's deputy already fill out paper work and give statements?

"Your turn Deputy." DA Kim said.

Alex sat a little straiter and Norma chanced a look at him. Saw his focus was at the camera that the stenographer had pointed at him now.

"My name is Deputy Alex Romero. Been a Deputy with this department for over seven years now." he said in a detached and unfeeling voice. "Mrs. Norma Bates and myself were involved in a close relationship. Her son Norman Bates confided in me that some lady, as he called her, had taken him to the zoo and to an amusement park."

Norma felt her breathing pick up with how professional and unfeeling Alex sounded.

"Given the child's age, I wasn't sure if it wasn't something he dreamed or saw on television." Alex said logically. "So, I told Mrs. Bates that I would take Norman to the daycare, but I actually took him to our mutual friend Tess Wilson. Just because I wanted to ask the daycare owners if what he said was possible."

Norma swallowed hard and felt tears sting her eyes.

"One of the owners of the daycare, Frankie, told me Miss Hamilton had given her documents that said Norman had doctors appointments out of town and that she had been entrusted to take him with her. This is a small community where parents depend on each other and their neighbors when times get hard, so the owners didn't question it when they saw these fake documents." Alex said sadly.

There was a heavy silence in the room.

"I… I asked the daycare owner to hold off on reporting the incident until I could verify with Miss Hamilton what had happened. For all I know she had permission although that seemed unlikely." Alex said in a dark and angry voice. "Norman was still safe with Tess and his mother was home sick. I didn't want to worry her unless there was cause. When I spoke to Rebecca about the incident, she admitted to taking Norman without permission."

Norma sensed that there was more and she waited. The whole room was silent as everyone waited. Alex remaining quite.

"Deputy." Tom Wilson said.

"Rebecca Hamilton…" Alex said. "Admitted to me that she held a lit flame to Norman's Bate's eye to get a reaction from him. That was when I arrested her."

"And you and Miss Hamilton were involved, yes?" DA Kent asked.

"Not since this past April." Alex said hotly.

"Do you think that kidnapping this child was some sort of vengeance for your break up?" DA Kim asked.

"We didn't break up. She just stopped seeing me." Alex told him curtly.

"And you started seeing Norma Bates." DA Kim waved a hand in Norma's direction.

"Yes." Alex said calmly. "If she wanted to hurt me, it would make more sense to come after me and not some defenseless child."

"All criminals are cowards, deputy." DA Kim told him.

The DA picked up a report and snapped on the TV in the corner. Norma gasped at seeing the thin red head she'd spotted at the party sitting at an interrogation table.

A security camera had recorded her and although the footage was grainy and off-putting, there was no hiding that horrible expression of hatred.

"I want you two have a listen to Rebecca Hamilton's statement. Maybe give you some closure. Tom has already heard it." DA Kim said.

He pressed play and the grainy footage jumped to life.

"So why did you take the kid if you didn't like him?" an unseen male voice asked. Norma thought the voice must belong to some detective. It sounded very calm and very cop like. Ready to listen and ready to understand. Ready to let Rebecca talk herself into a jail cell.

"I just wanted to see how easy it was to play that stupid mommy role." Rebecca said lazily. "It was way easier than I thought. All the little shit needed was some McDonalds. Had to make him ride those rides at the park towards the end. He got too afraid after the fun house mirrors. Told him all those ghost women were going to kill him." she snorted.

Rebecca shook her head.

"It's not hard to be a mother. Why that Bates woman makes it look hard is beyond me. That kid did exactly as he was told down to the letter. Even if I told him to walk into traffic, he did it. He's a retard or something. I don't know why Alex wants to play daddy with those kids when they aren't even his." Rebecca said.

"Did he talk about wanting kids before?" the detective asked.

Rebecca looked angry.

"Alex said he was never getting married. Never having kids and not to ask." she said hatefully. "I should have known when I guy says that, he means he's not going to marry you or have kids with you."

She shook her head as if the world had played a joke on her.

"Yeah, then he comes into the cafe while I'm eating my mushroom omelet today and starts telling me how he's going to marry Norma Bates. How I better stay the fuck away from **his** kid. Since when did that freak Norman Bates become **his** kid? What? When he shot and killed his **real** father?" Rebecca laughed. "Is that how it works? Don't make me laugh. He's hired Chick Hogan to rebuild his grandfather's farm house just so he can move that bitch and her two brats up there you know."

Rebecca looked close to tears.

Her lower lip was trembling.

"A girl at work told me. I saw them at Christine's garden Party…" she sniffed. "They looked… like a real fucking family to. With their own little retard in tow. Norma should have drowned Norman when she had the chance. He's goring to grow up screwy, you can tell. Wouldn't even ride the roller coaster without crying."

Norma felt herself shaking when Alex's hand, strong and warm had taken hers as if she was drowning.

She didn't look back at him but held onto him as if he were her life line.

"That's enough." Alex said. "Stop."

"She's a hateful person." DA Kim said happily pausing the tape. "Her lawyer is getting some doctor from Pineview to exam her."

"So, she's not going to serve jail time?" Norma breathed.

She let got of Alex's hand and he slowly pulled away from her.

"We have a good case against her." DA Kim said. "I wanted you to know why she did it. It's always good for the families to have closure."

"It doesn't give me closure." Norma said feeling slightly sick at the sheer hatred Rebecca had for her and her children. "She called my son those horrible names. She… was cruel to him just because she…"

She refused to glance at Alex. She wasn't feeling sick anymore at the idea of Rebecca and how evil she was. Alex had called Norman his. He'd called her son his kid when facing down this horrible woman. It felt like butterflies had exploded in her stomach when she heard that.

"I think you have all you need, right?" Tom asked.

"Yeah." DA Kim said putting his paperwork in order as his stenographer put the taper recover away and packed up.

DA Kim didn't care about the emotional trauma he just inflicted on her. How he just victimized her all over again by having her witness Rebecca's hateful speech.

"Alex, Norma, take as much time as you need." Wilson said as he physically escorted DA Kim out of the conference room.

~ Alex never liked Donavan Kim. He was in that same class of privileged kids of White Pine Bay who bought everything and valued nothing.  
"I'm sorry." he whispered to Norma once Wilson had shut the door and they were alone.

Norma said nothing. She looked dazed and traumatized.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." he said clarifying what he was sorry for.

"I'm fine." Norma said although her voice and her hands were still shaking.

"He shouldn't have shown you that. Donavan has always been a huge… asshole." Alex explained.

"Yeah, I got that. He's friends with Christine after all." Norma said bitterly.

Alex wanted to laugh at the joke, but neither one of them were in the mood.

"How are the boys?" he asked at last.

Norma took a deep breath.

"Um… Dylan thinks it's his fault still." she said. "I told him it's not."

"Norman?" Alex asked. He had to restrain himself from saying he would talk to Dylan. His days of explaining things to her son were over.

"He's okay." Norma told him. She shrugged. "Tess wants me to have some specialist in Portland look at him. Thinks he has that thing 'Rain Man' has."

"Tess doesn't know everything." Alex said feeing defensive there might be something wrong with Norman. Especially after what Rebecca had said.

"She seems to know about this." Norma said weakly.

Alex looked down at his own hands. Wishing he could hold her.

"Did you really say Norman was your kid?" she asked.

"What?"

"When you arrested that woman. Did you really tell her that Norman was your kid? Not to mess with your kid?" she asked.

Alex looked up at her, ready to apologize again and saw her eyes were that same color blue as bay was that day they went fishing.

"Yes." he admitted. "Yes. I did."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because," he said slowly. "That was **my** family she did this to. She hurt **my** family."

Norma's body was shaking slightly and he couldn't tell if she was angry or not. Her face unreadable just now.

"I'm sorry." he said again. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was angry because they told me I was just the boyfriend. I wasn't his father. That this thing might be happening to Norman and I had no say over it. I'm not used to feeling that helpless, Norma." he said.

The weight of not being able to speak to her after all this time was gone, and made his body feel lighter.

"I know you're sorry, Alex." she whispered.

"I want to come home." he said. He saw his chance and refused to miss it. Saw that George would be right outside the door if he let Norma get away. "I want to come home. Please."

He refused to wait for her to nod or shake her head. He had missed her too much. Missed the smell of her perfume and the feel of the fabric of her clothing.

"Alex." she sighed in frustration started to pull her closer to him.

"Please. We can fix it." he promised. "I just want to come home and be with my family again."

He saw her eyes change color. Become a lighter shade of blue. Like dawn breaking on the bay. The start of a beautiful day.

"Okay." she whispered.


	62. Chapter 62

62.

~ Norma couldn't stop the waves of butterflies that were erupting inside her. It was like being on the greatest joy ride ever. Better than when Alex had take her for a drive in his grandfather's car. Better than the first time they had made love or when she had seen him carry Norman into the house because the little boy was half asleep and couldn't walk. Better than the first time he'd told her he loved her.

She felt the euphoric bliss of his forehead making contact with hers. The sudden need to giggle was overwhelming as the butterflies wanted to take flight. She felt happy and dizzy and warm all over as Alex started to play with her finger again. Bringing each once to his lips and kissing them.

"I've missed you." he whispered.  
"I've missed you to." she moaned softly and felt too weak to keep her head up. Preferring to rest it on his shoulder instead.

Naturally, outside forces had to ruin their perfect moment.

The sound of the door opening and the noisy office beyond blared harshly into the conference room causing Alex to rip himself away from her. Creating a professional distance just as George and Christine waltzed in.

"There you are!" Christine said when Norma turned lazily in her chair as if she and Alex hadn't been in a private moment. "We'd been worried about you."

"Mrs. Bates was just finishing up some paper work." Alex said coldly to George and quickly scooped up some documents off the table.

"I'll need the transcripts for our personal attorney, Deputy." Christine said tersely.  
"You'll have to contact the DA's office." Alex told her in an acid like tone that Norma recognized meant that Christine could go to hell.

"Norma, let's go get something to eat and George has to go back to the office. I'll take you shopping and we can put all this horrible business behind us." Christine was saying as Alex held the door open for the three of them.

Norma tried to catch his eye. The two of them very much aware they were off of everyone's radar just now. News of their break up had spread around town faster than news of Norman's kidnaping by Rebecca Hamilton and neither one of them were eager to be the subject of more gossip about their relationship again.

Although Norma didn't like the way George pressed his hand into the small of her back right in front of Alex like that. If the deputy saw, he didn't say anything. It was all Norma could do not to swat George's hand away and tell him she was taken.

She'd always preferred Alex's hand's on her than George's.

"Oh." Christine gave an audible noise and the party stopped in it's tracks down the long hallway towards the parking lot.

Alex had been right behind George and hadn't seen what was in front of them but Norma now saw the problem. Now saw that a female deputy was escorting that horrible Rebecca Hamilton out in handcuffs and to the parking lot.

"Jones." Alex barked stepping in front of Norma. His voice firm and militant. "Take that prisoner back to holding.

"Her transport is here. They said they're running late." the female deputy told him in a frustrated voice.

Norma, in a trance like state, and with her son's abuser so close, side stepped Alex while he barked at Jones about the family of the victim being here and to take the prisoner back to holding.

"Take her back to her cell, now." Alex ordered when Norma, with Rebecca eyeing her, daring her to do it, slapped the evil whore right in the face.

"Norma!" Christine said with dramatic effect that fooled no one.

George was quickly by her side and pulling her away as Rebecca started crying.

"Don't you ever come near my son again, bitch." Norma hissed in a savage voice. Images of Rebecca's bloated and dismembered body, maybe thrown down a well or floating in the bay were soothing and exhilarating just now. If she could only kill one person and get away with it, she wanted it to be Rebecca.

"Take her back to holding, Jones!" Alex roared. "I'm not going to tell you again!"

"She hit me!" Rebecca sobbed like a three year old. "Did you see that? She… she hit me!"

Alex turned to Norma who suddenly felt the rush of exhilaration wearing off and the pain in her hand at hitting that evil woman start to make itself known.

"Mrs. Bates, I need you to leave and try not to assault any more prisoners." Deputy Romero said scathingly.

Norma glared at him as George and Christine turned to the exit. George pulling Norma's arm.

While they weren't looking, Alex gave Norma a little smile and she felt that familiar rush of butterflies again.

~ It felt like lunch and that shopping trip would never end. Norma had never wanted to go home so badly. She was happy when she could pick Norman up from the so-called nanny. She looked like a simple baby sitter to Norma, and Dylan up from school. Her oldest seeming moodier everyday since Alex had left. He barely spoke to Norma when he got into the truck.  
"How was your day?" she asked him and Dylan didn't answer.

"That good, huh?" she sighed.

~ Norma cooked turkey pot pie and when the phone rang, she was sure it was Alex telling her he was running a little late. Instead it was George.

"I have to say it was pretty great the way you hit that woman." George said cautiously over the line.

Norma rolled her eyes.

"Yeah?" she asked. He was so boring. Nice guy, but boring.

"It was really impressive." George gave a forced laugh. "I don't blame you for hitting her. If it had been my kid…"

' _Yeah, you wouldn't have done shit_.' Norma thought hatefully.

She knew people like George. The nice guys. The ones who didn't believe in fighting.

George wasn't a fighter. He didn't fight for the things he loved because he never really loved anything. He didn't risk anything and he didn't really care about anything. He wasn't like Alex. Alex wasn't afraid to tell the world Norman was his. That this was his family they were all he cared about.

"I was thinking we should go out." George offered. "To take your mind off things. Just you and me."

' _What? And leave my kids with the nanny?_ ' Norma wanted to laugh.

"I can't. I can't leave the boys." Norma said when she saw Alex's SUV pulling into her driveway.

She glanced in the living room at Dylan and saw her youngest hadn't noticed Alex was back. He still looked sulky.

"Okay. I guess we can take the boys with us." he offered.  
"Um, George, can I call you back?" Norma asked when her heart leapt with glee at see Alex climb out of his SUV with Graceland jumping out with him. The dog's tail wagging happily. She wasn't sure why her heart beat with sure pleasure at seeing him or why those butterflies were back. Fluttering their wings furiously around stomach when saw his dark good looks and how happy she was to have him finally home again.

"Sure." George said and Norma hung up before he could say anything more.

"Dylan, someone is at the door. Go and answer it." Norma ordered curtly before Alex could even step on the porch.

~ "This was a great dinner, Norma." Alex said for the third time.

"Thank you." she told him shyly clearing away the dishes that her family had saved her the trouble of packing away any leftovers.

She'd expected Dylan to be more enthused that Alex was back in their lives, but her oldest was suspicious to have Deputy Romero show up unannounced on his doorstep.

Only Norman regarded Alex and Graceland as if no time had passed at all. The police dog sniffing out both children and giving the youngest a good face licking before greeting Norma with a friendly tail wag.

"I know it's been a few days." Alex said to Dylan when her oldest son let him in.

"You said you wen't coming back." Dylan accused him darkly.

Alex and Norma exchanged worried looked.

"We talked it over and we're going to make things work." Norma told her son. Dylan still didn't seem sold on the idea and looked back and forth between Deputy Romero and his mother as if they were trying to sell him a bad used car.

"Why don't you go wash up? Dinner is ready." Norma suggested at last.

~ "Mom cried a lot you know." Dylan accused Alex white they were out in the back yard alone. After dinner, because they had eater early and the weather was still relatively warm, Norma had suggested they go outside and enjoy the air.

Who knew how long they had before things turned unbearably cold.

Alex gently tossed the frisbee and watched Graceland run after it.

"She did?" he asked. He didn't know Norma had been upset enough about their temporary breakup to cry over it. She had seemed so in control. She always seemed in control.

Dylan stood away from him as if some kind of trust had been broken.  
"Look, I'm sorry." Alex said. "It was all my fault."

"What did you do?" Dylan asked. Graceland came running back with the frisbee and didn't want to give it to Alex.

"Did your mom tell you why Norman isn't going to the daycare anymore?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. She said some lady took him without permission. That it was scary and to never go off with strangers even if they say they know me or you." Dylan said.

"Right." Alex said and they looked behind them at the back porch. Norman was in his own world playing with action figures. Arranging them in some sort of battle or manner of play that made sense to him. His focus entirely on the world he was creating and not on the real world.

"The problem is I found out about it. I didn't tell your mom. I tried to handle it myself. I didn't want to worry her and I only made things worse." Alex explained.

"Oh." Dylan's eyes grew wide and he seems to understand perfectly.

"Yeah." Alex nodded. Recognizing that he had the child's sympathy. "You should always tell your mother the truth. Trust me on this." he smiled.

"She was really mad." Dylan sighed.

"I know she was mad." Alex agreed and yanked the frisbee from Graceland and tossed it again. "But I didn't know she cried about it. I'm sorry I made your mother cry."

"It's okay." Dylan shrugged.

"No, it's not okay." Alex shook his head. "I don't want to hurt you or your mom in any way. I only wanted to protect your brother because… I think of you and your brother like you were my own kids."

Dylan's eyes grew big and he glanced back at Norman playing on the back porch.

"I think of you and Norman as **my** boys and it pissed me off that someone had hurt one of my boys." he said. "Do you understand?"

Dylan nodded.

"I thought you had left because I told everyone in school you were my dad." he said softly.

Alex smiled.

"No." he said. "Your mom was just a little mad at me and she had every reason to be."

"Yeah." Dylan said.

"So lesson learned." Alex said when Graceland came back with the frisbee. "Don't piss off the women you love."

"Yeah." Dylan agreed and mimicked the way Alex was standing.

"Boys!" Norma shouted from the back door. "Boys! Come inside right now, it's getting dark and it's going to get cold soon."

She bent down to look at Norman who seemed reluctant to leave his toys.

"Come on, we got our marching orders." Alex said to Dylan.

"Yeah." Dylan nodded when he pulled the little boy towards the house by the collar of his jacket.

"Norman, its' time for your bath." his mother was saying.

"Too cold for a bath." Norman said.

"It will be warm inside." she promised.

"No." the younger child shook his head.

"Come on." Dylan sighed and pushed his brother down and did a fair job of knocking his toys out of order. Norman immediately started crying.

"Dylan!" Norma snapped. "Don't push your brother!"

Norman, recognizing he'd gotten sympathy from his mother cried as if he'd been mortally wounded. He seemed more upset that his toys had been disturbed than that he'd been pushed.

Alex promptly lifting him up and taking him indoors.

"Dylan, bring all of your brother's toys inside right now." he ordered feeling the younger child wrap his thin arms around his neck for comfort.

"Do I have to?" Dylan whined.

"Yes! You were the one who kicked them!" his mother snapped.

Alex heard some fighting between Dylan and Norma but that was silenced when he closed the bathroom door and started to run the bath water for Norman.

"Your mom's going to be in soon to help you." he assured the little boy.

Norman was drying his eyes but looks frustrated by the situation.

"You… you were at work." he accused.

"Yes." Alex said.

"For too long." Norman said angrily.

"You think I was at work for too long?" he asked.

Norman nodded and glared at him.

"Okay. Do you not like it when I'm at work for too long?" he asked.

"I like it when you're here. Mother's happy, she's happy when you're here. She sings a lot more." Norman said.  
"Okay." Alex said. "I will be here a lot more then, Norman."

"Okay." the little boy said. "Good."

Norma breezed into the bathroom holding a pair of small pajama's for Norman.

"Thank you, Alex." she sighed. "I'll take it from here."

She started to help her son undress and added bubbles to his bath water.

"I'll go and talk to Dylan." Alex said.

"He's been a bad mood for a few days." she admitted. "Sorry about that. Not exactly a good welcome home, I know."

Alex leaned over and kissed her cheek from behind.

"Don't apologize. Its' good to be home." he whispered.


	63. Chapter 63

63.

~ "Sorry today was so chaotic. Not exactly a good welcome home." Norma sighed when she managed to sneak into their bedroom.

Alex was eagerly waiting for her and now that the house was in order, the boys bathed and in their beds, Graceland put on guard on the sofa and the house was still, he could hardly contain himself.

"No, it's alright." he murmured letting his hands wander along her hips and up her blouse. Rudely caressing the lace of her bra and the softness of her breasts.

"Alex!" she hissed in alarm.

"I've missed you." he insisted. "I haven't seen you, **really** seen you, in days and I've missed you."

"I've missed you to." she said calmly but managed to back away from him. Her eyes avoiding him and brushing his hands off her.

"What is it?" he asked. Not understanding her reluctance to fall back into the frenzied mating rituals they did so well.

"It's just…" she sighed.

"Dylan told me that you were really upset after. That you'd been crying." he said. "I'm sorry."

"I was upset." she told him. "I want you back in our lives, Alex but that can't happen again. Norman is my son. You should have said something."

"What if it turned out to be nothing?" he asked with a little shrug. "What if he dreamed it?"

"Then that would have been something we would have found out together." Norma insisted. "Now, I have to find a new daycare for him."

"Why?" Alex asked in alarm.

"I can't exactly take him back to the old one and Christine is being very generous letting me use her nanny. Sybil thinks she has a possible childcare lead at her church but I'm not really a church going person. They're looking for a new music director and I'd have to be there every Sunday for five hours and every Wednesday and Friday evenings for choir practice but it's a part time **paying** job and it's **free** full-time child care on weekdays. I can't exactly pass that up. She's says I'd have to join the church though and talk to the pastor. Some guy named Pastor Warren." Norma said very quickly.

"Wait." Alex said slowly taking this new information in. "Pastor Ed Warren?"

"You know him?" Norma asked hopefully.

"We went to school together. He's senior pastor of the Redeeming Rose Church here. It's the oldest church White Pine Bay County. Maybe in the state." he said.

"Well, their music director had a heart attack and they need a new one. Sybil put in a good word for me and he wants to meet me tomorrow. He heard what happened with Norman and thinks that what he needs is a smaller daycare. It would be free and I could use the extra income from playing piano for them." she explained quickly.

"Ed Warren is a nice guy." Alex admitted feeling his stomach go a little sour. He could never think of anything bad to say about Ed. That was the problem. Eddie Warren never had any enemies. Never said anything bad about anyone and always focused all his energy on local missionary work. After the most recent flooding, he was one of the first people to ensure the food banks were filled and the needy families were taken care of.

"It's odd that Sybil even goes to church." Norma said wrinkling her nose a little in such a way that made Alex smile.

"Why is that?" Alex asked. His hands going to rest on her hips again. He couldn't help it. She pulled him to her like a magnet.

"She doesn't seem the church type." Norma told him as if that was obvious.

"Sybil and her whole family have been members of Redeeming Rose since it was built." Alex told her. "Even helped to fund its' construction."

"Really?" Norma asked.

"Yeah." Alex nodded. "Never trust someone who's always outwardly good or who always has to assure you how righteous they are. They're always hiding something terrible. Sybil doesn't pretend to be good. She admits to being a sinner."

"What about you?" Norma asked.

"What about me?" Alex asked with an uncomfortable smile.

"Do you go to church?"

Alex wasn't in the mood to talk about God or a spiritual life just now. Not when she was allowing him to pull her hips closer and closer to his.

"My mother used to take me to church with her. She wanted me to let God take away all my troubles. To not let them break me. She wanted me to be whole." he explained slowly.

"And?" Norma asked when he didn't say anything for a long time.

"God didn't save her did he?" Alex asked bitterly. "He didn't save Bradly Martin from drowning or a million other terrible things that happen every day."

"He sent you to save me." Norma told him without hesitation. "He sent you to save all of us. I mean, think what would have happened if you hadn't pulled Sam over that night."

Alex felt a smile tug on his lips.

"Lets not think about that." he admitted.

"Just be glad he did." Norma grinned at the sound of Alex pulling on the zipped of her dress.

~ It was like falling back into an old and familiar habit. The way they made love again. It was so easy and comfortable and almost like dancing when they undressed each other. No stepping on toes or missed timing or rhythm. Alex barely had to do anything for her to become aroused by him and she knew exactly how to manipulate him to get him to respond to her.

Afterward, with the rain starting a light downpour outside, Norma opened her nightstand drawer to reveal a letter.

"You sister wrote you back?" Alex asked. Looking over the childish drawings of butterflies and ponies.

"Well, I think Vivian did the writing and Violet told her what to say." Norma smiled at the elegant penmanship of Vivian Harman.

"That's wonderful, Norma." Alex sighed feeling sleepy and drained. Too much had happened today and he was exhausted.

"Violet wants to dress up as a Vampire for Halloween. She wants to be scary. She doesn't want to be a princess or anything like that." Norma was saying in a worried voice.

"Sounds fun. That's what Halloween is supposed to be about." Alex sighed. "My mother always made me wear cute costumes and I wanted to be scary."

"I should get the boys Halloween costumes." Norma said softly. "I haven't had the time."

"I can take them." Alex promised half asleep.

"Really?" Norma asked.

"Yeah." Alex said. "We have a big party on Halloween I'll have to go to anyway. Its' good for them to be there."

"Ok, but nothing scary, Alex." Norma insisted. "Something cute like a cowboy for Dylan and a cow for Norman. That would be adorable."

"Yeah, no, we're not doing that." Alex shook his head and fell asleep.

~ Norma woke up alone that morning and guessed Alex had gone out for his morning run with Graceland. She managed to get the boys up and fed just in time to see him come back inside, shower and dress for work.

"I've missed your cooking." Alex admitted wistfully looking at the bacon, eggs and hash browns she sat in front of him.

The boys having already eaten in their pajamas. Norma not trusting them to eat in their school clothes. Having learned the hard way that was not a good idea.

"You weren't eating those TV dinners again were you?" she asked suspiciously.

"Well, I had this attractive blond lady cooking for me. Did you want me to starve?" Alex asked.

Norma smiled while she watched him eat his breakfast. She enjoyed cooking for him. Enjoyed the fact that he appreciated it and that even though it wasn't a modern ideal, she liked being a homemaker.

"So you're going to talk to Ed Warren today?" Alex asked. He could hear the boys getting dressed in their room and glanced at his watch.

"Yeah." Norma nodded and hoped she would get the job. She didn't want to admit to Alex how badly she needed the money. Her finances were paper thin just now and the last thing she needed was to lose her free daycare.

"You know, if we got married…" Alex said. "You wouldn't need a second job."

"I know." Norma said. They had this same discussion last night.

"I could tell Chick to hire another man to sped up construction of the house." Alex offered.

"How would you pay for that?" Norma sighed. "Isn't this rebuild pressing you to your limits already?"

"I could give up the rental." Alex said easily. "It's a useless expense."

"Maybe." Norma agreed.

"Okay. I'll talk to Chick today and see if he can hire another man." Alex said feeling a sense of happiness flood over him.

"I still have to find a part time job, Alex. And free childcare for Norman." She told him.  
"What you need is to let me help you." Alex said finishing his breakfast.

"No." Norma shook her head. "You do plenty around here already."

Alex could argue for days with this tiger about what he did and didn't do to help her, but he knew he'd never win. It was better to just walk away from this argument and be thankful he was home again.

"Okay." he said moving closer to her and waiting for his morning kiss. Her nose touching his and he could feel her lips wanting to kiss him. "See you tonight?" he asked.

"Of course, Deputy." she whispered and leaned up to meet his kiss.

Thankfully Dylan and Norman rushed in soon or they wouldn't have made it to work to their important meetings that day.

~ "I grew up with Alex Romero. He and his mother were members of the church. She was a lovely woman." Ed Warren said quickly.

Norma found it hard to keep pace with the tall, somewhat distracted pastor who seemed far too young to be the leader of a church. Ed Warren walked with long purposeful strides that seemed to propel him with an elegant grace Norma wasn't used to seeing in men.

He met her in the eye, but also looked around, using that generous hight of his to see things beyond a normal person's line of sight.

"Hattie! Can you readjust the program line?" Ed asked.

He turned to Norma in frustration as an older woman stacked programs neatly in a row.

"My staff is a bit long in the tooth, Mrs. Bates. I think you and I might be the youngest ones. By the way, how old are you?" he asked.

Norma was a little surprised by the question.

"I'm 25." She admitted slowly.

"So am I." Ed said efficiently. "I graduated from the University of Oregon just a few years ago and was ordained last year. I still get treated like I'm that three year old kid."

"Oh." Norma nodded. She felt slightly embarrassed and sensed what was coming next.

"Where did you study music?" Ed asked seriously.

"Um, well I was taught privately." Norma explained slowly. Her cheeks growing warm at her lack of real education.

"Nothing formal?" Ed asked skeptically. "Sybil said you were able to read music and sing. This position requires that you be able to read and direct a choir."

"I can read music." Norma said defensively. "I've been able to read music since I was little. I can play piano and read anything."

"Alright." Ed said accepting her challenge. He reached into the pew and took ahold of a red hymnal book.

"Come with me." he said clasping her small hand inside his big one.

With those long legs of his, Norma tried to keep up as Ed Warren guided her up a narrow flight of stairs to a large balcony where an impressive organ and piano were kept.

"Don't let it scare you, Mrs. Bates." Ed said. "Our organ is just like the piano and it's mainly used for weddings and the early services. Something about an organ gives religion more of a weight."

Norma was intimidated by the sheer size of the organ that took up so much of the balcony. It was impressively polished and looked old and well cared for.

"Why don't you start on the piano and if you fell comfortable, you can do a wedding march on the organ." Ed Warren said opening the choir book and flipping to a random page.

It was a hymn Norma had never heard of before and it was naturally complicated and overdone.

She took her seat at the piano, not the heavy organ and found her keys.

She wasn't about to let Ed Warren intimidate her.

The piano wasn't as nice as the one Alex had given her, but the acoustics in the little church were amazing. She focused on the flow of the patterns and how easily they went together. How the sounds echoed back to her from the tall ceilings and how the stained glass seemed to vibrate from the simple music.

When she reached the end, she turned to see Ed's face was skeptical.

"Do you know the wedding march?" he asked. His face becoming hopeful.

"Of course." Norma said realizing she had the upper hand.

Ed stood aside and let her have access to the ancient organ.

It took Norma a few moments to kind her way over the complicated instrument. After she did a brief warm up, and found the notes, she did a slow and then a fast wedding march that had the walls shaking with joy.

No sooner was she done then Ed and Norma heard clapping. They turned to see the old ladies below were applauding her performance.

"Alright." Ed Warren said. "You're hired."

"Really?" Norma said feeling a rush of relief wash over her.

"We'll try this out on a temporary basis." Ed Warren said. "You'll understand I would want you and your family to actually become members of the church if this becomes permanent. Have your boys been baptized?"

"No." Norma said honestly.

She looked out at the tiny, but lovely redwood chapel that was warm and inviting.

"No, we were never really a church family." she explained.

"If you don't mind my asking, we're you ever baptized, Mrs. Bates?" Ed Warren asked.

Norma shook her head.

"Well, I think it would be a wonderful way to bring you and your children into our church and our community." Ed said gently.

"Well, I'll think about it." Norma said feeling awkward.

Ed nodded and gave her an equally awkward smile.

"Tell Alex I said hello. It would be nice to see him at service again. His mother was greatly missed here." Ed said softly.

He ran a hand over a large plaque of names before descending back down the narrow stairs. Norma eyed the plaque which looked very old but had recent names added onto it.

It was the names of all the former music directors of the church since it was founded, and their years of service.

She saw the names started as early as 1878. They were all women she noticed but she gasped in alarm when she came across a familiar name.

 **Theresa Reyas Romero**

 **1975-1993**


	64. Chapter 64

64.

~ Norma had been dreading seeing Alex that evening. Expecting him to be gloomy and irritable over her new job as music director at his mother's old church. The same job his mother had held for almost twenty years before her suicide.

Pastor Warren had said nothing about Mrs. Romero's tragic and untimely death and Alex had only mentioned that he had found her while on Sunday morning. When he came to pick her up for church.

Why hadn't he mentioned his mother had been the music director there? Why let her find out this way?

"How's Ed?" Alex asked casually when he came home that evening. He'd hadn't come into the house right away. Instead, he and Dylan spent as much time as possible out in the garage, working on the farm truck. Norma was sure it was because he didn't want to talk about the church or his mother's plaque there. Didn't want to talk about that last Sunday morning where she never made it to church.

"A bit over caffeinated." Norma said scrubbing down the countertop. She hadn't cooked anything for super and Alex looked around in confusion.

"I thought we'd go out." She said by way of an answer.

"You never want to go out to eat." Alex accused. "Something being around people and how horrible they are."

"Yes." Norma agreed. "But we need to celebrate."

She smiled slowly as if he couldn't guess.

"I go the job." she said happily.

~ "So we have to go to church now?" Dylan complained spitefully after the waitress brought their food. Norma didn't trust other people to cook of her. She was well aware of how dirty other kitchens were and inspected her own food carefully before looking over the boys.

She also wasn't a fan of eating in restaurants, but Alex had taken them to a very nice place that was owned by a friend of his. It didn't seem like the kind of place that served children, but had made an exception when Alex and Norma had come in with the boys.

"My mother used to say faith was a gift." Alex told Dylan. "That it comforts you during hard times. Your mother is giving you boys a gift. You need to be thankful."

"Are you going to go to church with us?" Dylan asked.

Norma looked expectantly at Alex.

"I'll have to work." he said quickly.

She knew that was a lie. As first deputy, he set his own schedule and he gave himself Sunday's off because he knew she always had that day off before now. He normally worked whatever schedule would put him in better sync with Norma and she wasn't folded for a second that he suddenly had to work.

"But on the days your mom has to stay late at the church, I'll be home and we can order pizza." he promised quickly.

"I can make a casserole and you can heat it up." Norma amended. She didn't want them eating such trash twice a week.

"Casserole." Alex nodded and winked at Dylan. "Right."

~ Norma survived her first Sunday worship and it had been grueling. Arriving at the church at 6a.m, warming up with the choir who thankfully had plenty of practice and knew all the songs and notes by heart, and playing until past noon.

Dylan and Norman were in the church's daycare which was smaller than the red school house, but thankfully separated by age. Norman's age group, lovingly called, the inch worms, was rigidly watched over by a large harsh looking woman named Miss Portman, who reminded Norma of a monstrous screech owl.

The children weren't at all afraid of her, but Norma would have been terrified to try and take a child that wasn't hers from under this woman's watchful eye. The screech owl saying nothing and always sitting in an ancient rocking chair and letting those big eyes of hers observe each child in turn. As if searching for someone who dared pray on one of her charges.

Norma Bates liked her right away.

After Sunday service was over, Pastor Warren asked Norma to organize the music for next week's service. The ladies who normally did the clean up, the church was run entirely by the fairer sex even though it claimed to be lead by men, had already left and Norma had found a seat in the empty church pew to go through the music selection. There was a lot of it, some dating back as far as the sixties and Norma smiled a little at seeing the penciled in initials TR, wondering if they were Alex's mother and if the girlish script was hers.

"Lot's of music to choose from, I know. Over the years our former music directors have really added to our collection." Ed Warren said coming to sit beside her in the pew. "Traditions will remain the same but we like to change up the last three contemporary services. Appeal to the younger crowd." he explained.

"Didn't realize you had three services." Norma sighed wearily.

"Well, in the beginning, this was a very small congregation. Only fifty or so members." Ed Warren explained while she leafed through the reams of sheet music. Most of it reminded her of the Christian rock she didn't care for, but a few sounded pretty catchy.

"This church is old and small." Ed went on and he looked around appreciatively at the magnificent stained glass that complimented the redwood. "It's old and its' pretty and everyone wants to get married here and buried her."

"Was Alex's mom?" Norma asked without thinking.

Ed turned from looking at the alter and waited for her continue.

She felt awkward.

"Was she… I mean, her funeral?" Norma asked.

"Yes." Ed said gently. "I was home on summer break when it happened. The church was packed. Very respectful for a Sheriff's wife."

"Even after a suicide?" Norma whispered.

"You'll find that we're a very liberal church, Mrs. Bates." Ed explained. "God forgives all who ask for it."

"I shouldn't have asked. Alex and I don't really talk about it." Norma said putting her selection of music for next weeks service into a folder. It was simple and had a very rock and roll feel to it. Ed looked it over and nodded his approval.  
"You continue to surprise me, Norma Bates." Ed said with a boyish grin. "Retro music is very in right now. Or so I'm told." he shrugged.

"Well, it should appeal to your youth crowd." she said.

She wanted to stand up but Ed Warren hadn't stood to allow her leave just yet. He seemed to want to talk more.

"You know, I'm sure Alex has told you a little about his dad. Or I'm sure you've heard the rumors." the pastor said.

"A little." Norma said uncomfortably. Ed Warren was outwardly kind, but Norma suddenly remembered what Alex had told her about people who were nice on the outside.

"I had an older brother." Ed said dreamily. His gaze on the stained glass window directly across from them. The late afternoon light looking beautiful against the different colors and seemed to make the old redwood glow.

" **Had** a brother." he clarified. "Cody."

Norma cast her eyes down and waited for him to continue.

"Cody was… he was a little slow. A little sensitive and didn't really understand things." Ed explained. "He wasn't rerated, exactly, but… he wasn't like the other kids. If you messed up anything in his room, he would cry. If he thought you had left him someplace, he would be traumatized. Even when he got older, he just was very sensitive to things."

Norma instantly thought of her youngest child. How Norman was becoming more and more anal about his toys and the orderly way he liked things.

"Cody got picked on a lot, but not by the other kids in school." Ed explained. "Believe it or not." he laughed. "The kids are school were pretty nice to him. Maybe because they knew what was going on."

"Who was picking on him then?" Norma asked.

"Our parents." Ed Warren said darkly.

He looked up at the alter. At the stained glass and his face was angry.

"Yeah, they would pick on him like a pair of school yard bullies. Called him dummy, slap him on the face. Mess his room up just to watch him cry or get upset. One time they were beating him so bad he crawled under the bed just to get away. My dad pulled him right back out just to hit him again. He and my mother were laughing the whole time." Ed said sourly.

"What happened?" Norma asked.

Ed shook his head.

"Cody was in a bad place. Really bad and my dad just wouldn't... stop." Ed explained. "Sheriff Romero, you know some people may not like him, but he had zero tolerance for the child abusers. I went and told him what was happening. That Cody was wetting the bed again and my parents were rubbing his face in it and laughing about it. He went over to our house and told my dad that if it ever happened again, he'd break both his legs."

Norma took a deep breath.

 _'Boy does that sound familiar.'_ she thought.

"Pretty sure he called Sybil on them the next day because she paid them a visit. That old lady makes the Old Bear look harmless." Ed laughed.

His face went dark again.

"My parents, decided to play a little joke on Cody." he said darkly. "Said that because the Sheriff and Sybil had come by, that they were going to let the state take him. That he'd go to a state home and be sodomized by the mean boys there."

Norma felt panicked at the idea any parent could say anything so cruel to their child. Especially a child like Ed's brother.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Cody was scared." Ed shrugged. "He didn't want to leave. He didn't want to leave his room, his home. He thought they were telling the truth and he didn't want to be separated from my sister and I. So he drank a few cups a bleach and killed himself. He was ten years old."

"Oh!" Norma felt the dagger go through her heart and felt it rip painfully apart. Tears falling from her eyes at the fact that such an innocent soul was lost.

"Sheriff Romero, came when I called." Ed went on. "I thought he was going to beat my dad to death when he saw that body bag coming out of the house. A part of me wanted him to."

Ed shook his head smiled.

"He arrested my parents. Both of them and they are still serving twenty years each. Should be released soon. Been on good behavior. My dad found out I became a pastor and wants me to write a letter of recommendation for him for early release." Ed said.

"Will you?" Norma asked.

"My older brother was a fragile soul, Norma. Someone who should have been protected by his parents. Not hurt by them. He's in the ground not two hundred feet from where where're sitting because of them. I can forgive them, but I can't just erase what happened." Ed explained.

He glanced at Norma.

"I guess I'm not a very good servant of God sometimes." he said. "I also think I'm the only person in town who doesn't hate Sheriff Marcus Romero."

Norma made a face and he explained.

"It would be easy to blame Sheriff Romero. To say if he hadn't threatened my parents, they never would have lied to Cody about sending him away and he never would have drank bleach and died. But I was the one who told the Sheriff about what was happening to us. That Old Bear, he sat down and listened to me. I was seven years old and he listened to me like I was a grown up. Like I mattered. He scared the living hell out of me when he grabbed my old man by the collar and threatened him. It was like the arch angel Michael had come down and crushed the demon from hell. Always had a fondness for Michael after that. The Old Bear handcuffed my parents and took them away after my brother died. Told my sister and I we would never see them again and we never did." Ed admitted. "I was and still am thankful for that."

"What happened after your parents went to prison?" Norma asked. Ed Warren seemed so well adjusted with his fine education and his generous hight and build. It was hard to believe he had such a troubled childhood.

"My Great Aunt Laura took me and my sister in. She raised us like her own. She was a Deacon here. One of the first women to be a Deacon in fact. Wanted us to be brought up in faith." he said.

"Faith is a gift." Norma said remembering what Alex had told her about his mother.

Ed turned to her and looked at her with admiration.

"Yes, it is." he agreed.

Ed looked at his watch and quickly jumped up.

"Sorry about that. It's getting late. You'll want to get home." he said. "I didn't mean to take up so much of your time."

"You didn't." Norma said collecting all the sheet music in one large bundle and pulling it close to her chest. Ed stepped aside to let her out into the aisle.

"You know." she said, feeling the need to confess something that had been on her mind since the thing had happened.

Ed waited patiently. His gaze on her and on nothing else.

"I'm sure people think it's strange that Alex and I are dating. After he shot and killed my husband." Norma explained.

Ed said nothing.

"Sam. He was hurting us. My sons and I. I was glad when he was dead. I was thankful when they told me he was dead. That he couldn't ever hurt us again." she told him. "I just remember being glad Alex was there and he…"

Her voice trembled at the memory of that awful night.

"Well," Ed said with a little smile. "Thank God for the demon slayers. Always coming when called."

 **I based the story of Ed's brother Cody on the very real story that occurred recently around the youtube scandal "DaddyOFive". If you watch Phillip Defranco like I do, you'll have hear of this and I strongly suggest you Google this story because it will make your blood BOIL. I know mine did. You'll see I didn't really embellish the comparison between my Cody and the Cody from "DaddyOFive"**

 **It's basically about stay at home pice of shit dad youtuber who makes his living tormenting his children. In particular his second youngest child named Cody. They call it pranking but it looked like child abuse to a lot of people in the youtube community and what is really disgusting was he was making money by brutalizing these kids for years. Cody and his sister Emma were thankfully removed and are with their real mother now. The videos are disgusting and I'm not exaggerating when I say the dad was pulling Cody out from under his bed just to beat him and the poor kid was crawling and hiding under his bed again.**

 **They even told Cody they were putting him up for adoption just to make him cry. The mom gets involved with pranking her step son Cody and having her natural children beat him.**

 **Thankfully, the youtube community and the internet did what it does best and opened a can of whoop ass on these people. The parents were angry at Philip Defranco for taking away their income and their kids, but if you ask me, Defranco SAVED this family by shinning a spotlight on this insanity. I hope that one day they can look back on this and see how horrible it was, but that is a long way away. It's not unrealistic to say that their Cody could have ended up like their Cody if Defranco had not stepped in.**

 **Very happy that Cody and Emma are safe because I could foresee a tragic ending for this little boy if the parents were not stopped.**

 ***And yes. We all need to be worried about Ed Warren.***


	65. Chapter 65

65.

~ Alex was surprised to see strange man perched on the newly exposed rafters of the east side of the old farm house. Alex and Chick and been doubtful that they could hire an extra person with all the repairs in town after the flooding. There was better pay in town and the only benefit to working for Deputy Romero on the farm house was that he allowed you to stay there.

"Says his name is Bill." Chick said lazily while Alex squinted up at the naked roof the two men a stripped away.

"Bill?" Alex asked. It sounded like a lie.

"Bill." Chick shrugged as if to say. ' _So what if it's a lie. You never lied before?_ '

Alex glared at the eccentric handyman he was entrusting with his ancestral home. He wanted to trust Chick Hogan, but it was always like trusting Norma not to sneak Graceland the occasion slice of bacon.

"Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill." Chick said mockingly.

"He any good?" Alex asked nodding up at the fair haired young man who looked to be barely in his thirties. There was something vaguely familiar about him, but he couldn't put a name to it.

Chick nodded.

"Yeah. He surprised me. Seems to know everything about construction. Sees a job and does it. He's just a drifter looking for work. Was told there was plenty here in town." Chick explained.

"So why isn't he in town? Money is better in town." Alex asked suspiciously.

"I think he needed a place to shack up. He's sleeping in an old van a few miles away. Walks here each morning." Chick said.

"So what's wrong with him?" Alex asked.

Chick looked innocent.

"Got to be something wrong." the deputy clarified. "With Bill."

"If you're asking why he hasn't come down and introduced himself, it's cuz I think he get's nervous around cops. Mentioned how this house belongs to a Sheriff's deputy and he almost left. Maybe he did time. Decided not to ask. Who isn't nervous around cops?" Chick shrugged. "All I know is we have to get the roof done before the winter snow starts. You want to get that Missus of yours in here as quick as you can and you asked me to hire another man. What I did."

Alex rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, she's not your Missus yet." Chick lazily corrected himself. "I can tell Bill to bet it if you want."

"No." Alex said quickly. "No. If he's working out, then great."

He gave Chick an white envelope with some cash.

"I'll stop at the ATM and get some more cash to pay Bill. What do I owe him?" he asked.  
"Four days work. About twelve hours a day. He took apart the entire roof himself and put in new beams. Fine work to. He'll be done with the roof by the end of the week. We can get started on the bathrooms soon." Chick said pocketing his pay. Chick only accepted cash.

"So soon?" Alex asked in surprise. It wasn't even Halloween yet, maybe they could move in by Christmas?

Chick shrugged.

"We don't know what we'll find when we open up the old pipes." he said.

"Right." Alex groaned. Plumbing would always be expensive, but always worth it.

"Bill seemed like he knew what he was talking about." Chick assured him.

"Good. Tell him I'll be back this evening to pay him." Alex said.

Chick gave an odd little bow and Romero glanced up at ' _Bill'_ hammering away at the rafters over what used to be the East wing of the house.

~ "Romero won't be back till five at the earliest. He'll pay you and then we won't see him for a few days. He likes to spend as much time as possible with Mrs. Norma Bates and her two sons." Chick explained when he climbed up the ladder and greeted Caleb.

Caleb Calhoun wrapped his arms securely around the beam he had just hammered into place to make sure it would hold. Leaned his weight into it and watched that deputy Romero's SUV vanish down the drive.

Caleb had made sure to do a good job of fixing this roof. Not just to keep this construction job, but because he found out Norma Louise would be living here as soon as she and Deputy Romero got married.

"How-" Caleb started nervously. "How long have they been going together?" He looked at Chick who seemed amused. "Norma and that Romero cop guy?"

Caleb nodded at the tree lined lane where the cop's SUV had disappeared down.

Chick shrugged.

"Don't know. Since before Summer, I think." Chick said.

"Already getting married?" Caleb huffed. "What, he get her knocked up or something?"

"No, I don't think so. Romero takes himself too seriously for that." Chick said. "Way I hear it, Norma Bates came into town early spring with her drunk husband and two young boys. Romero had to arrest the husband because he was driving drink and almost killed them all. Norma Bates decided she wanted to divorce him. Her drunken husband doesn't like that and comes to her place to talk some sense into her. Only with his fists." Chick gave Caleb a look and Caleb gripped the beam harder and gave it a firmer tug. Ensuring, for his sister's sake, this support beam would never come out.

"Her oldest, boy runs out in this real bad storm and manages to flag down Romero, who had fortunately taken a wrong turn. Lot of people speculated about that. Anyway, Norma Bates was beaten half to death, her arm was broken real bad and her youngest was missing. Romero, being the the kind of cop he is, told that no good drunk to stop. No good drunk does what no good drunks are apt to do, and tries to give Romero some of what he was giving to his wife. No good drunk ends up bleeding to death on the kitchen floor curtsy of Romero and a department issue shot gun." Chick explained with poetic symmetry that made Caleb shutter.

Caleb had already read the news story a hundred times. He'd found it, purely by accident when a college town he'd been doing work for had female student doing a report on domestic violence, and had photo copied the article, and he recognized his sister's face. He's been painting the walls of the library, doing clean up and there she was, in a wheelchair with her arm in a sling and her face bruised. But it was still his Norma Louise. There was a small skinny boy on her lap and another boy by her side that gave Caleb pause. That made him feel nervous and sick all at once. He didn't like looking at the older boy.

The man pushing Norma's wheelchair wasn't that Romero guy. He was in a cop uniform, but he wasn't Romero. The article said his name was Zac Shelby and he was a Deputy Sheriff. Caleb noticed how he was young and nice looking and wondered if he and Norma were a couple.

"So, that Romero guy killed her husband and she wants to marry him?" Caleb asked slowly. He remembered going to the library at the fancy college town where he worked and the lady there, who kept her distance from him, had helped him find out all about that Deputy Romero.

How he had killed Sam Bates in self defense and in defense of an innocent civilian. How he'd even rescued Norma's youngest boy when a lot of people were thinking he was dead. He had his picture on the front page of the newspaper for that. Even got some kind of award for saving them from the city.

"Well, maybe she was thankful." Chick shrugged and lit his pipe.

Chick looked at the well placed beams and tested them.

"Good work. Let's have lunch and we can put the roof on. Romero will be back this evening with your pay." Chick said.

"Hey, you didn't tell him my real name did you?" Caleb asked.

"You asked me not to." Chick said slowly.

"Good, cuz, you know, I need this job and, I got warrants and all." Caleb said.

"So your solution was to work on the house of a Sheriff's deputy?" Chick asked in a condescending tone. "Who's old man was also a Sheriff in this county? Not just A Sheriff but THE Sheriff?"

"Yeah." Caleb said nervously. "Look, if that Romero guy or if Norma Lou- if his um… if they come by, I just want to make myself scarce okay?"

"Sure." Chick said. "I don't mind taking all the glory. "I like Norma Bates. She's a real lady. Always dresses nice. A good mother. A little vicious sometimes, but what man doesn't like that in a woman?"

Chick seemed indifferent and almost careless to Caleb. He never asked about why he wanted to work here and why he was living in a van. They didn't trade stories or past adventures. Mostly just made plans for the future.

Chick wanted to build a cabin in the woods and become totally self sufficient. Living off the land and getting off the grid for when Y2K happens.

"What are your plans?" he asked Caleb as the two men fried baloney over a campfire.

"Oh, I'm going to get my son and his mother. We're going to go traveling. Just like we used to." Caleb said easily.

~ "He's too **good**." Alex complained after dinner over and they were doing the dishes.

"Ed Warren is too good?" Norma laughed.

It had been a good day. Nice and normal with nothing happening that had caused her to worry. In fact, she'd been blessed with a few days of those lately with nothing more to occupy her mind than work, the boys, Alex, cooking and music.

"He's always been like that." Alex said. "I don't trust people who never show their dark side."

"His brother committed suicide, Alex." Norma reminded him. "It doesn't get much darker than that."

Norma glanced at Norman's bedroom door. Dylan was in the bath right now and the fact that Norman and Cody so closely resembled each other in behaviors were not lost on either of the adults.

"I know." Alex sighed. "I remember that. Cody was a sweet kid. He was small for his age and I remember thinking he was very sensitive. No one picked on him because even the bullies wouldn't allow it."

"Why not?" Norma asked. "Seems bullies would pick on the smaller and weaker kids."

"Because I wouldn't pick on him and I wouldn't let anyone else pick on him either." Alex told her.

She looked at him in surprise.

"You were a bully?" she laughed.

"When I was about ten, yes." he said. "I was an angry kid, Norma. An angry kid with a bad home life. Never wanted to hurt Cody Warren though. He seemed, too breakable. Besides, Tommy Brennan and I always went after one of the rich kids."

"Well, that makes sense." Norma said with a smirk.

"They went to private school after the first week or so." Alex nodded.

She grinned.

"We had weed out the trouble makers." he insisted. "Keep the class sizes small."

"I'm sure the teachers appreciated it." she laughed. "How is Ed Warren too good?"

"My mother liked him more than me." Alex said spitefully.

"She did not!" Norma spat in defense of a woman she had never met. A mother protects a fellow mother.

"She was always talking about how Ed Warren was on the honor roll and how Ed Warren was always doing this for summer camp and teen pledges. How Ed Warren is going to college and didn't join the Marines just to spite his father." Alex said bitterly.

"I bet you looked really handsome in your uniform." Norma suddenly realized. She couldn't believe she'd never seen him in uniform.

"I did." he assured her.

"Where is it?" she asked playfully.

"Its' at the farm house. Chick is there with the new guy."

"What new guy?" she asked.

Dylan came out of the bathroom said good night, Alex and Norma parroting goodnight and going back to their conversation.

"I had to hire a new guy to help with the house. The snow is going to get here any day now, Norma." Alex explained.

"Sure we can afford to hire another person?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm sure we can't afford for the weather to destroy all the work that's been done so far." Alex reminded her. "The good news is Bill has already completed most of the roof and Chick seems to think that they can start on the bathrooms by the end of the month." he told her.  
"Alex, that's wonderful." Norma breathed. "More than one bathroom." It was a dream come true.

"By the way, hope you don't mind but I picked up the boy's Halloween costumes." Alex said nodding to the bag in the corner she hadn't noticed before. "Had to stop off at the house and get them. I'm sorry but they might need to be washed a little. They're not new."  
"What?" Norma asked suspiciously at the wrinkled looking bag that was from a crafting store she'd never heard of.

"Open it." Alex dared her as they dried off their hands.

"I thought we were going to buy their costumes together. A cowboy and a cow. Remember?" Norma asked.

"No, that's a terrible idea." Alex shook his head. "These are better."

Norma picked up the bag and peered inside. The costumes appeared to be regular clothing. The first one was a basic kaki color the same kind of material and color that she'd seen a hundred times when she washed Alex's uniforms. The only difference was it was much smaller. The Sheriff's uniform lovingly reproduced to fit a child about six or seven.

Norma noticing that whoever made it had even taken the time to sew a shoulder patch to match to scale that said White Pine Bay Sheriff's Department on it. There was even a real badge pined to the lapel.

"I'd forgotten that was in there. Guess the old man forgot to." Alex admitted. "It was his spare badge."

"What is this?" Norma turned to him in alarm.

"Halloween costumes." Alex said. For Dylan and Norman. "My mother made them. I've only worn them once. She washed them. Kept them in the cedar chest. Still good. Shame to not wear them again. She was very talented at sewing."

Norma gently place the miniature Sheriff's uniform on the kitchen table and clasped her hands over her mouth. She didn't trust herself to say anything just now. Theresa Romero had recreated the uniform down to every last detail and Alex must have looked adorable in it when he was Dylan's age. Now he wanted her son to wear it.

"Norman's costume is in there to." he nodded expectantly. "It was always Sybil's favorite."

Norma felt her hands shake slightly as she gently took out the fleece outfit that looked more like a cozy set of pajama's than a costume.

"I was a little younger than Norman is now. But I think it might work. My mother sized it so it would live me room to grow." Alex admitted.

Norma's vision blurred over the warm looking bear costume. It was more like a teddy bear costume than an actual bear. Alex's mother having sewn a little hood with cute ears to cover her son's head an a generous amount of fleece lining on the inside so he wouldn't have gotten cold. No doubt would have been too warm that October evening so long ago.

"There's this big party Sybil hosts and I think we should all go." Alex admitted. "It would be nice, if the boys showed up in this. Let everyone know… let them see that we're serious. That we're a family."

Norma tested the zipper of the little bear suit and gaged it to be sound. The fabric was still serviceable and smelled clean after being stored. Alex's mother was indeed a talented seamstress if she had made these costumes by hand. Far better than she could ever be in fact.

"Norma?" Alex asked. His expression worried that he'd over stepped with wanting her son's to wear these costumes without asking.

She gently folded them back into the bag and placed the bag on top of her china cabinet where they wouldn't be found by curious little hands.

"Take me to bed." she ordered deputy Romero.

~ Alex was surprised by being told what to do by her sexually. He normally like to be in control, but he wasn't going to say no when her hands, suddenly very strong and insistent, were pushing him to their bedroom and forcing him out of his clothes. Her skin feeling like it was on fire when it came into contact with his, and he felt his own body burst to life as his tiger attacked him.

Their bodies, so finely tuned to one another now, Alex knew she trusted him and he could do what ever he wanted and she wouldn't shy away or be afraid. That she would bloom for him like a flower and she would force him to surrender to her, all he had.

"Alex?" she whispered softly sometime after midnight.

Alex reached out and turned on the light next to their bed.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I want Ed Warren to Baptize me and the boys." she confessed.

He felt that twinge of jealousy that was always all too familiar growing up.

"Why?" he asked.

"We have to be members of the church." she reminded him. Norma moved closer and rested her he'd on his chest. "This is the easiest way. I trust Ed. He's very nice."

"Of course he is." Alex grumbled.

"Your'e not worried are you?" she whispered.

"Worried about what?" he asked.

"That there is anything between Ed Warren and me." she said simply.

"Of course not." Alex said. Although now that she said it out loud, Alex knew that was his fear all along. Norma did seem better suited to be with Ed Warren than with him.

"Good." she said. "Because you have nothing to worry about." she told him. "I doubt Ed Warren could do for me what you just did."

"You mean the costumes or the other thing?" he teased.

She gave him a shy grin and her cheeks tinted slightly.

"When the house is finished, Norma." he said boldly. "When the house is finished and we're married. I want you off the pill."

He expected an argument, but got none.

"Okay." she said simply. "When the house is finished. When we're married."

 **Went to a job fair at my massage school Friday. It was nice. Kind of like a reverse job interview. I got to interview them for a change and pick the best ones. I[m willing to do a long commute a few days a week. No more that three. Houston is only an hours drive for me and if it means $26 an hour starting pay, I'm cool with that. Yeah!**


	66. Chapter 66

66.

~ Norma Louise had always liked wearing dresses. Always wanted to dress like a girl rather than a tom boy.

Caleb had noted that when they were little, she hadn't enjoyed wearing his hand me downs. Even though he assured he she was getting his favorite pairs of jeans and that she could climb trees better in them. That his old plaid shirt was lucky and he regretted growing out of it, didn't appease his sister when she had to wear it to school.

Norma Louise wanted to wear nice clothes. Dressing well had always been important to her for some reason he couldn't seem to understand. It wasn't exclusively a feminine quality either. This need for a pretty dress that was modest and made others think she was a good, respectable girl. Other girls were happy enough dressing in boys clothes.

Norma Louise had always been different. She always had to stand out just a little. Always had to look good and never slovenly.

So it didn't surprise Caleb at all when he spotted his sister walking out of that small catering place where she worked wearing a dress with comfortable walking shoes. Her blond hair pinned perfectly up and her make-up neatly done, but not overly done.

She never invested in too much jewelry and always kept her dresses simple and classic looking. Even in high school, Caleb was proud of the fact that his sister was pretty and would always warrant a second glance by both men and women for her style and looks.

He was four years older than his younger sister, and when he turned fifteen, their father had made him leave school and go to work with him. Caleb hadn't minded that much. He'd been getting into fights with other kids and the family needed the money. At least this way, he could afford the occasional treat for his sister. The most precious thing to him in the world.

He'd give his sister some money and told her proudly to buy what she wanted. Always happy when she dressed nicely for school. Always pleased to see her looking better than the other girls. Of course, she'd have to change out of whatever fancy dress she'd bought or sometimes made before she went home. Their parents wouldn't have liked their daughter dressed up. She'd change into the ratty second hand clothes that had been her brother's because their father liked to see Norma Louise looking plain and ugly. It was safer for her if she didn't look nice at home.

Caleb helped her keep the secret of her nice clothes. She kept so many of his secrets.

He looked away from the sight of his sister. He was in town with Chick. Making a rare trip to the hardware store to get supplies and a few things from the grocery store. It was just by chance he'd seen his sister coming out of that little catering place.

Caleb wondered if she worked there as a cook or something. She'd be good at that. She was always inventive at cooking. Their mother accused her of showing off, but Caleb loved his sister's cooking and didn't care if it was showing off or not.

Bitterly, he wondered if that deputy Romero appreciated her cooking. If he appreciated the nice way she dressed and how she took such care with her appearance because she didn't like to look messy. She hated to look dirty and for people to think she wasn't a decent person.

"Norma!" a tall man shouted near Caleb and he jumped back into Chick's truck for fear of being found out.

His sister whirled around and smiled.

"Ed!" she said with a large smile while Caleb made sure to slouch low in the cab of Chick's truck cab and watch them through the rearview mirror.

"Thought that was you." the tall man was saying. To Caleb's horror, Norma Louise crossed the street and came closer to the truck where he was. He could see the light reflecting off her blond hair and see how beautiful she'd become as a young woman. Far more beautiful than she'd been as a teenager, when she'd been so thin and sad all time.

"The sun came out." Ed waved up at the sky as if it wasn't obvious that the sun was shinning.

Caleb didn't like this Ed guy. Why was he talking to his sister and smiling so much? Why was his sister talking to this Ed guy anyway?

"I know!" Norma said as if this news was shocking. "Maybe it won't be too cold for the Halloween party tonight."

"You're going then?" Ed asked.

"Alex wanted to."

"That's a miracle, Norma. Getting Alex Romero to **want** to attend parties." Ed said to her with a funny little smile that Caleb didn't like.

"I didn't do anything in case you're wondering." Norma told him. "In fact, he has the boys wearing some costumes his mother made."

"Really?"

"Don't tell anyone. It's a surprise. It was very sweet and…" she shrugged and smiled a little. "It was a very nice gesture on his part. Its' like he's saying that we're a real family."

"I'm glad to hear that." Ed told her. Although in Caleb's mind, he didn't sound that sincere.

"You know, Alex has been without a family for so long, and I think you and the boys… all of you are… well… really blessed to have found each other." Ed said slowly.

"Yeah." Norma told him and Caleb saw her fake smile come out a little. "Will you be at Sybil's party?"

"Sure." Ed told her. "Not in costume. I don't dress up. What will you be dressed as?"

"You'll have to come and see." Norma teased him with a smile so wide and beautiful Caleb felt his heart start to beat faster.

"Fair enough." Ed said with an eye roll. "I look forward to it. I won't say anything to Alex of course, but I'd love to see him at service."

"I wouldn't hold your breath, Pastor." Norma told him.

Caleb scowled at the man his sister was calling ' _Pastor_ '.

"Well, he's always welcome. The church was his mother's second home."  
"I know." Norma sighed.

"The boy's baptism class will be Monday. Will Alex be there?"

"I don't think so. Sybil wanted to stand up with me."

"Would you like me to talk Alex tonight?"

"No. He's… baby steps." Norma said slowly.  
"Fair enough." Ed told her.

The two of them stood awkwardly together a few moments and Caleb wanted this Ed guy to go away. Why was he talking to his sister like this? Why, when she was seeing that Romero guy, was this guy talking to her? He didn't like it. Was his sister going to church now? Baptizing her children? Friends with the pastor to the point that they were talking on the sidewalk? Norma Louise wasn't raised to go to church. Not since the scary people and all the dogs. They'd always stayed away from religion after that.

"Well, I have errands to run." Ed told her.

"Me to." Norma smiled. "Dylan is making noise about going the Boy Scouts. Promised him I'd look into it."

"He should. I was a Boy Scout. Made it all the way to Eagle." Ed told her standing a little taller.

Norma laughed as if he were joking.

"Yeah, Alex told me." she said. "I'll see you tonight."

Caleb turned away as his sister, her hair shinning in the sunlight, strolled past him and got into a late model farm truck.

He glanced back into the rear view mirror and saw that Ed guy was still looking longingly at Norma. Watching her as wanting to capture every detail before she disappeared.

~ Alex was running late to Sybil's party and his tux wasn't his idea of comfort.

"Hold still!" Tom growled as he tried to wrench a bowtie onto the younger man.

"This isn't exactly a costume, Tom." Alex said dully.

"It's what Tess said you're supposed to wear." Tom Wilson told him.

"How come you get to be a cowboy?" Alex winced when Tom almost strangled him securing the bowtie.

"This isn't a costume." Tom said defensively. "Back in Texas these were my normal clothes."

"Cowboy hat and everything?" Alex nodded to the dove gray hat that suited the Sheriff's very authentic look. Right down to his boots and large belt buckle.

"Well, we would just call it a hat." Tom said with a smile.

He finished the bowtie and smoothed Alex's black dinner jacket out.

"Think that does it." the older man said.

"I look like I'm going to prom." Alex complained dully when he saw his reflection in the mirror of Tom's office.

"You wouldn't say that if we hadn't rented it from the prom department!" Tom said. "Now, it's what Norma said would go with her costume and rule number one of living a good life, is to keep the woman you love happy. You keep the woman you love happy and everything else will take care of itself."

"Crap." Alex groaned.

It didn't help that the two men were leaving the office to go to Sybil's party together. The Sheriff in his authentic cowboy outfit and Alex in his prom tuxedo.

"They're all gonna laugh at you!" Deputy White cackled at Alex to a general robust round of laughter.

Even Clarice had to hide her smile behind her hands as they were leaving.

~ Since the roaring twenties, or so the history books said, Sybil's family had hosted a very swanky invitation only Halloween party at the family house. There was certainly enough space to have the lavish party and everyone, from the mayor to a few senators would come.

Norma wasn't expecting Sybil's house to clean up so well. She knew it was big and old and well cared for. Yet parts of it were shut off and the old woman only inhabiting one room for her day to day purposes. The study was locked up tightly now and instead the ballrooms, billiard rooms and expansive parlors were open to the guests. The back yard with its' grand grecian swimming pool was lit up as if Jay Gatsby were hosting.

Norma smoothed out the sky blue beaded dress she'd found in a reproduction shop in Portland and couldn't resist buying. She'd even trimmed her hair a little shorter to compliment the style of the roaring twenties and with the general feel of the house, the party and the gem headpiece Sybil had insisted she put on, she felt very much like Daisy Buchanan.

Norma flitted a nervous hand over the headpiece Sybil had rudely pinned onto her hair that evening. Saying, through a cloud of cigarette smoke, that it was legit, and her mother had worn it when the house was raided for breaking the Volstead Act. Norma wasn't sure what the Volstead Act was, but she was terrified the glittering gems were real diamonds and pearls.

She spotted Sheriff Wilson saunter in with his cowboy hat and everyone at the party turning to look up at the handsome silver fox.

Wilson didn't care if he looked silly or not dressed as a cowboy. Although she loved Alex, Norma had to admit, Tom Wilson was a good looking man.

"Miss Daisy." Sheriff Wilson touched the brim of his hat to Norma and looked up and down her dress.

She blushed and gave a little curtsey in the matching shoes that were hurting her feet.

"Where's Alex?" she asked.

"Mr. Gatsby is parking the truck." Tom nodded. "I don't think he likes the tux."

"Does he look handsome?" Norma asked hopefully.

"Oh, very handsome!" Tom said in a girlish voice. "Where the hell is Sybil? She's hiding all the good booze, the old dragon."

"Over there by the fire. She's dressed like a dragon." Norma nodded to Sybil sitting in a winged back chair. The old lady had gotten an early start that evening on drinking and her turban was sitting a little askew. Norma had thought her costume was beautiful and guessed it was a dragon right away even with the turban and colorful kimono. The old woman having painted iridescent scales on her face and neck. With smoking so much, she could hardly be anything else but a dragon.

"If you need me, I'll be getting loaded." Tom said stalking over to seek audience with the dragon who sat like a queen by the fire.

"I'll be sure to tell, Tess." Norma called to him. Norma glanced back at Tom's wife who was in the second ball room that had been reserved as a play area for the kids. Dylan and Norman's costumes were a huge hit. The bear costume fitting Norman perfectly after just a few alterations. Norma careful to wash it and line dry it. Dylan had been over joyed at seeing the Sheriff's costume Norma had washed and ironed for him.

"It only has a plastic badge." Dylan had complained sadly while Norma said nothing. Knowing Alex wanted to surprise him.

Tess was dressed as a fairy queen, complete with butterfly wings and all the kids seemed to want to follow her. She looked every bit the enchantress who might turn a wooden puppet into a real boy.

She could sense Alex's touch before she even saw him. Feel his large hand press firmly on the small of her back and make it arch in anticipation.

"You look beautiful." Alex whispered in her ear. Obviously at a loss of words.

"I haven't even turned around yet." she whispered back to him.

"I was watching you. You looked so beautiful, I couldn't take my eyes off you." Alex said in her ear. She caught the inviting smell of his cologne and her stomach exploded with butterflies again.

"You know, you shouldn't be talking to me like this. I'm in a very serious relationship." she whispered.

"Oh yeah?" he asked. "Is he the jealous type?"

"Very." Norma grinned and made a point to look at the party guests. She could feel Alex tugging on the blue ribbon she'd attached to her Gatsby dress.

"I think you're worth the risk." Alex told her.

"I don't know." Norma said playfully. She felt her face go red and her legs go weak. How many bedrooms were in this house? Surely Alex would know. "He's not just the jealous type, but pretty violent to."

"Oh, well in that case." Alex sighed and pulled away from her.  
"Alex!" Norma laughed and grabbed ahold of his arm. He looked incredibly handsome in his tuxedo and the butterflies in her stomach were beating their wings furiously now.

"You never said you were a fan of the Great Gatsby." Alex told her.

"Who isn't?" Norma smiled and ran her hands up his arms. She loved how he wrapped his hands around her waist and how they didn't care that so many people could see them.

"Well, it's a love story with a tragic ending." Alex told her. "They were doomed in the end."

"They were still in love." Norma argued. "Nothing can change that."

"Maybe." Alex said. "I'd much prefer a love story with a happy ending. One where the lovers actually have the courage to be together."

"Speaking of courage." Norma said with a grin. "Dylan was upset the badge was plastic."

"Oh, dear." Alex smiled back.

"Better go fix it, deputy." she warned.

"Yes, ma'am." he said.

She let him go and watched, it was sinful how good he looked, him walk into the second ballroom to find Dylan and Norman playing with the other kids.

"Are you a penguin?" Emma Decody innocently asked him as she held tightly to Norman's hand. She was dressed like a ladybug ballerina and Norma was worried by how pale she looked.

Alex gave the cute little girl and offended look.

"What? No, I'm not a penguin!" he said spitefully.

"Alex." Norma sighed as she took Norman's hand and he guided Dylan by the shoulders upstairs and out to a private balcony, away from the crowd.

~ "Why are you dressed like that? You're supposed to be in costume." Dylan pointed out.

Alex let out a frustrated sigh and had to remind himself what Tom said. Norma looked happy. That was the most import thing. So it was worth looking stupid for one night.

"This is a costume." He told Dylan sternly. "Now, your mom said you didn't like your costume."

"No, I like the costume!" Dylan said quickly. Alex could see that Norma's oldest took great pride in it and that it fit him perfectly. That Norman's bear costume also fit and he kept the hood on his head with the sudden chill in the air.

"Well, I think it's missing something." Alex mused looking over the miniature Sheriff's costume.

Dylan nodded.

"Yeah, the badge wasn't very good. I… mean… I just decided…" he explained why he didn't wear the dime store plastic badge Norma had said came with it.

"Well, here. You should wear this. At least for the rest of the evening." Alex said fishing something out of his pocket, kneeling down and pinning it to Dylan's chest.

He didn't want to give Dylan his own father's badge. That wouldn't do.

"Now, this is my **real** badge. My spare one. You have to take care of it. Don't lose it." Alex warned.

Dylan's eyes went wide and Alex had to admit the badge looked slightly too big on the small child.

"It's real?" Dylan whispered.

"Hell, yeah its' real." Alex told him.

"I-I can wear it all night?" Dylan asked hopefully.  
Alex glanced at Norma. He saw the way her chest heaved and decided to go one step further.

"Tell you what, after tonight, if you take good care of it, why don't you hang onto it for me? Keep it in a real safe place for me. Just in case I need it." Alex told him.

"Really?" Dylan whispered.

"You can't ever play with it, or lose it. I might need it." Alex warned gently.

"Okay. I will. I mean I won't. I'll be real careful!" Dylan promised.

"Alright." Alex smiled.

He glanced at Norman who seemed nonplussed by the gift.

"You know, boys." Alex explained feeling his voice change. "My mother made these costumes for me when I was little. I wore them. I means a lot to me that you're wearing them now."

"All the girls want to hug me." Norman complained. The moment slightly ruined, but only slightly.

"That's not going to change anytime soon, son." Alex told him.

"Boys, why don't you go back and find Tess." Norma said guiding Dylan and Norman off the balcony and back into the crowded party again.

"Okay." Dylan said taking Norman's hand.

"Be careful with that badge!" she hissed at her oldest.

"I will." Dylan promised.

Alex waited patiently for Norma to come back. He guided her to an spare bedroom he'd had a key to for over twenty years. There were over ten bedrooms on this floor alone and they wouldn't be disturbed here.

"Alex, that was wonderful." She sighed when she gracefully followed him into the guest room that had been his whenever he stayed with Sybil.

Alex had forgotten all about the badge and Dylan and Norman. He'd even forgotten about that little girl calling him a penguin. Instead, all he could think about was how Norma was unzipping that dress. How the fabric had beads that shimmered in the light and how parts of it floated like butterfly wings. How it melted off her and how her skin was hot to the touch.

How he was stripping off his stupid tux and she was begging him to do things to her.

"I locked the door." she panted when he peeled off his shirt and his hands started roaming over her well toned bottom.

"We have to get back to the party soon." she told him. "We might be missed."

"I can't promise we'll be quick." he warned.

"I told he would love that." he groaned when she unzipped his pants and they backed up to the bed. "I told you."

 **Love to hear feedback on what we think of Caleb's return and Ed being in Norma's life. In "The Conjuring" movies, he's a very caring individual and I want to paint him the same way here. That if Alex wasn't in her life, Ed would be the next best thing. He's going to be someone who loves Norma romantically and there WILL be jealous Alex moments.**

 **Also Caleb will be dangerous for Norma and Dylan.**

 **Just wanna hear your thoughts.**


	67. Chapter 67

67.

~ "Are you sure you're going to be okay to walk?" Alex teased when Norma skirted out the door to the deserted hallway.

She threw him an angry scowl and had to admit that her legs felt a lot like rubber just now. She wasn't sure how she was going to make it through the rest of the party on her feet after such an impromptu performance that left her stumbling around like she'd had too much to drink.

"How long have we been gone?" Norma hissed over the noise of the party just below them. She had to retie the blue sash on her dress because Alex had developed the habit of tugging at it whenever she had it back in place. He'd become as mischievous as any school boy who liked a girl. Never able to stop pulling on something of hers to get her to pay attention to him.

"Only about twenty minutes." Alex grinned and tried yet again to tug at the blue ribbon that seemed to beckon him.

"Stop!" Norma grinned happily and slapped his hand away. Alex took a step back and looked around the empty second floor landing.

Norma smoothed out her dress and redid the head piece Sybil had loaned her for the evening.

"Do I look okay?" she asked.

Alex's eyes traveled up her body, from her shoes and finally reaching her face. His eyes seeming to relax and soften when they caught ahold of hers. He stepped closer and this time, Norma didn't brush him off or push him away.

She felt her heart race, as it always did, when those strong hands of his made contact with any part of her body. How they could be so surprisingly gentle when they cupped her face and brought her lips close to his before slightly kissing her.

"Why do you ask such silly questions, Norma?" he asked playfully. "You know you're the most beautiful woman here."

Norma could feel a swell of pride rush over her over the way that Alex looked at her. How he always thought she was beautiful. Even first thing in the morning with no makeup on, or after a long day of work where she'd been sweating and felt tired and gross. He always looked at her as if she took his breath away.

"A girl still likes to hear it every now and then." She whispered back.  
"I'll keep that in mind." Alex seemed to purr and tired to pull her closer to him.

"We need to get back to the party. We can't let anyone know what we were up to, Deputy." Norma told him. If someone were to come upstairs, neither one of them looked particularly innocent at the moment.

"Okay." Alex grinned, but his eyes still sparked as if he wanted trouble.

Norma saw his hand going for the blue ribbon around her hip again and she deftly swatted it away before he could pull at it.

Alex looked amused at being rebuffed and moved away. Allowing her a chance to escape him.

"Keep your hands to yourself!" Norma giggled as she gracefully fled down the grand staircase.

Alex was in hot pursuit as the main party guests were divided between the ballrooms and parlors leaving the large hall empty.

Norma felt her heart leap with glee to see Alex give chase as though they were children playing a game and, like children, wasn't watching where she was going when she ran into the large, broad chest of Ed Warren. Her small body bounding off his as though she'd hit a brick wall.

"Oh!" she cried in shock.  
"Norma?" Ed asked catching her neatly in his long arms and looking concerned that she'd been running down the stairs and hallway.

"Ed!" Norma laughed in surprise. She could hear Alex's footsteps slow and stop behind her. The delightful chase was over.

She looked behind her to see that Alex didn't look too happy to have Ed Warren here. She had forgotten that his features could become so hard and cold. His eyes so unfeeling.

"Ed." Alex said.

"Alex." Ed said.

Norma looked over at Ed Warren and realized he was still holding onto her arms from their recent impact. She gently pulled away from him and stepped onto neutral territory between the two men.

Ed nodded politely to both of them, his hands going into his pockets. Unsure of what to do.

"Good to see you again, Alex." he said. "I think the last time we saw each other-"

"Was at my mother's funeral." Alex reminded him quickly.

"Well, officially." Ed nodded. "I'm sure we've seen each other around town."

"Probably." Alex said coldly.

Norma glared at Alex. Why was he being so rude to her friend? Ed Warren had always been kind to her. It had to be more than just deep seeded jealousy that his mother like Ed more than him.

"Well, I hope to see you at Sunday services." Ed offered.

"I wouldn't hold your breath." Alex said darkly.

"Alex." Norma interrupted. She shot him a scathing look. The look he gave her in return was as cold as ice.

Ed seemed to shake off Alex's disinterest with ease. He nodded to Norma and smiled warmly at her.

"You make a beautiful Gatsby Girl, Norma." he said.

She smiled at the compliment and would have said something about his costume but Ed Warren hadn't been lying when he said he wasn't going to wear one. He was dressed in the same shirt and tie he wore all the time.

"Little Bear?" Sybil called out and the old dragon emerged from one of the parlor in her sparkling kimono and turban.

Norma and Alex turned in unison to face her and saw her face light up when she spotted them.  
"Oh, there you two are. Good. We need to get a nice group picture. I've got Tess and Sheriff Wilson here. You get in with the boys and Norma. The newspaper photographer is here." Sybil ordered. "You to, Pastor. We need to at least pretend to be respectable."

"Me?" Ed asked tentatively.

Sybil waved at him and no other arguments would be heard.

"Newspaper?" Norma asked hesitantly. She smoothed out her hair again.

"I should have warned you." Alex said. "Sybil's guests are always in the papers. Although why she wants our picture is a first."

"It's usually the big names." Ed agreed. "The mayor. A few council members. The occasional millionaire."

"Why would she want us riffraff?" Norma asked worriedly.

Sybil marched back into the hall to see what was taking the three of them so long.

"Come on!" the old dragon barked.

~ "First time anyone ever called Alex 'Little Bear', was when his mother brought him to my Halloween party in that very same bear costume." Sybil told Norma after a gauntlet of photos were taken.

She'd been almost blinded by the newspaper photographer who took a picture with her, Alex, the boys, Tess, Tom and Sybil. Then it was varying mixtures of important people with the Sheriff and his Deputy. Sybil occasionally getting into the group shots as hostess.

"So glad to see Alex passing it on." Sybil said as Norma watched Alex, Tom, Mayor Dawson and Ed Warren pose in front of a massive fireplace. Alex and Ed making sure to stand as far away from each other as possible.

"Even had Dylan dressing up as a little deputy I saw." Sybil grinned happily. "Made me very pleased to see that. His mother made that costume to."

"It was Alex's idea." Norma admitted. "He wanted it this way. Wanted people to take us seriously as a couple."

She loved that fact that Alex was the handsomest man in the group shots. That he put all the old men around him to shame. No matter that they were fancy elected officials with money and power and influence.

"Mother!" Norman said crankily pulled on her skirt.

She looked down and saw her youngest was getting tired and was ready to go home soon.

"Alex always wanted a family." Sybil said absentmindedly. "I don't know why he was so cursed never to have one."

"Mom, when are we going home? It's boring." Dylan complained.

There were no more games for the kids to play and all that was left now were boring pictures of boring adults.

"Soon, honey." Norma promised.

"I want a nice picture of these four." Sybil snapped at the newspaper photographer. "The **Romero** family.

Norma caught Ed Warren glaring at her slightly. His normally kind face sharpening into a cold exterior that made her a little embarrassed when the photographer guided her and the boys over to Alex and settled them close together for a family picture. Dylan standing in front of Alex, and Norman in front of his mother.

"Smile!" the photographer ordered cheerily.

Norma put on her best smile but all she could sense was Ed Warren staring daggers at them.

~ "I don't feel good." Norman complained loudly when his mother allowed him to lie down in Sybil's office an hour later.  
"He's got a fever." Norma sighed and started loosening the bear costume so that Norman wouldn't be so hot.

"Is he okay?" Alex asked.  
"Maybe you four should stay here tonight. I've got plenty of room." Sybil offered.

"No, I want to get him home." Norma said exposing her youngest son's chest to the air.

Norman's skin was very hot and she knew he would need a cool bath, Tylenol and plenty of rest and fluids to get better.

"He was fine just a few hours ago." Alex said.

"Probably caught something from the other kids." Sybil said. "These little ones spread germs like you wouldn't believe.

"Alex, I want you to check Dylan for a fever. If we're lucky, we can only have one sick child." Norma said feeling inexplicably exhausted all of the sudden. Norman had strep throat. She could tell by the sudden fever, the redness in his mouth and white patches at the back of his throat. Dylan shook off the bug whenever it ravaged any environment he was in, but she wasn't sure how Norman would fare. Already he was growing cranky complaining about wanting to go home.

"Okay. I'll get the truck ready to go to." he offered.

Norma pulled her youngest out of the bear costume and washed him down with a cool wash cloth before wrapping him up in a spare blanket.

"You're a good mother, Norma." Sybil observed at last.

Norma looked up at the old dragon in surprise.

"What?" she smiled.

"I see neglectful parents all the time. Mothers who act clueless or want to blame someone else when they don't care for their children. Who just nod and agree that there should be food in the house but don't do anything about it. Or worse, who yell at the kids for eating too much." Sybil admitted painfully.

Norma brushed over Norman's hair and remembered that night a few months ago when she'd arrived here in White Pine Bay. How different she had been.

Sybil must have been thinking the same thing.

"You've come such a long way since we first met. Do you remember? I'm so very proud of you." the old dragon admitted. "It takes a lot of work to survive what you did. With Sam and all. To come through all that, and still keep your sanity. Hold down a job, take care of your kids. Not everyone can do, Norma. How you did it, I'll never know. No wonder Alex loves you."

Norma blushed slightly. The old dragon had more than her fair share of booze that evening and even though she was seated in a chair next to the bed Norman was laid out on, she weaved a little from side to side.

"You know, it would make me very happy to hear that Alex was married to you… and settled. That he had someone to take care of him. Ever since the day he was born, I've always felt… **obligated** to give him to the right family." Sybil explained sadly. "It's something I've failed at miserably. The way his father was, his mother… I had no idea things would turn out like they did. They seemed so good, Norma. They had me both fooled."

"What do you mean?" Norma asked.

She looked at the old lady who seemed lost in memories. Memories that were older than Norma and things she couldn't understand.

"It's so long ago now... it doesn't matter." Sybil sighed.

"Dylan seems fine." Alex said sneaking back into the office that Sybil used as her bedroom and general living quarters. "I've got the truck ready. I think its' time to go."

"You take care of the little one." Sybil ordered and stood up with remarkable ease even though she'd been drinking all night.

"Thank you, Sybil." Norma said when Alex gallantly scooped Norman up, still wrapped in the spare blanket, and carried him out of the office.

Norma folded the little bear costume her son had been wearing and followed.

"Thank you for inviting us to the party. It was lovely." she said. She had liked the party, but was glad to have a reason to leave. Even if it was only to go home to care for a sick child.

Ed Warren had left as soon as pictures were done and Norma couldn't shake the feeling that he was mad at her.

~ Ed Warren wasn't a drinker. Never had been. He'd seen first hand what addiction did to people and he had enough sense to stay away from temptation.

Still, there was some temptation he couldn't ignore.

Norma Bates.

He thought she was lovely. Everything about her seemed perfect. Almost as of God had sent her especially for him. She wasn't just attractive, but kind, modest and seemed shockingly honest.

Honesty was important to Ed. He hated fake people and was constantly surrounded by people with hidden agendas. Norma had no hidden agenda. Sure she came for the free daycare and the extra income, but she certainly didn't have to work at the church.

Her sons could have been cared for by a babysitter just as easily. Besides, it was nice having Norma there at the church with him. Someone his own age who honestly told him if his idea was bad or not. Who wasn't a 'yes' person but told the truth without worrying about offending him.

It seemed to Ed that Norma was everything he wanted in a partner and a friend. The fact she'd been married and had two children didn't bother him at all. The boys were well behaved and their mother seemed like she didn't need a man to care for them.

 _'Course she doesn't seem like she needs anyone. She already has Alex Romero. The greatest guy in the world.'_ Ed thought bitterly.

After Sybil's party, after the photographs were taken, Ed Warren had made his excuses and left. Driving out of town to a seedy little bar where no one would know him.

It was to be expected a lady a nice as Norma Bates would immediately be swept up by someone. Ed had heard rumors about her and Alex Romero ever since the shooting of her husband. He hadn't even met Norma Bates then but assumed she'd been just like any other woman. Manipulative, guarded and always looking out for herself.

When Sybil Lawson recommended her to replace Mrs. Deets as music director, Ed hadn't liked the idea. Norma had no experience and normally the job went to a bored housewife or retired music teacher. Someone with a lot of time on their hands. Not a working mother of two.

He felt sure Norma would quit after the first week. He was happy she hadn't. Happy he could see her three times a week and enjoy that lovely smile of hers. For those few hours, Ed could pretend that Norma Bates belonged to him. That when she played during services, he could be proud of her in a way that was more than just pride in a fellow staff member.

When he saw her with Alex Romero, running down the stairs together after they'd most likely been fooling around upstairs, Ed had suppress a quietly building rage inside him.

Alex had always had it all. He'd been blessed with parents who weren't in prison. His father was a hard ass, that was true, but his mother had been lovely. Just as lovely as Norma Bates was.

Alex been naturally gifted at sports his entire life and had never been afflicted with an awkward stage of being too small as a child and then having a radical growth spurt sophomore year of high school. A growth spurt that made him freakishly tall and was accompanied by crooked teeth needing braces and horrible ache. Ed was lucky during this time not to trip over his own two feet, let alone try out for any sports team.

All the girls in school had a crush on Alex because he'd always been good looking and didn't care about them. His mother couldn't stop bragging about how he'd brought home title after title and how proud she was.

Ed Warren had no mother to brag about him. He'd always been lonely after Cody died, and he sometimes pretend that Theresa Romero was his mother. The aging aunt who had taken him and his sister in had been good to him, but she'd been distant and unfeeling. Very difficult to know. His sister had been traumatized by their parents abuse and Cody's death. So much that she had trouble talking for a few years after. Eventually going to a special school out of state. Leaving Ed alone and without a friend in the world.

Perhaps that was why he took such a comfort in the church. Why he believed in the promise and the hope of it offered. He'd wanted so badly to believe Cody was in heaven, in God's palace of many rooms, that he was afraid if he didn't join the church, he might not ever see Cody again.

So, Ed devoted his life to something that came naturally to him. They only family that hadn't abandoned him.

When Theresa Romero, kind and beautiful lady that she was, committed suicide, Ed Warren wanted to blame Alex. Theresa's only son had never appreciated her or respected his mother. That he'd run off after graduation and joined the Marines instead of going to college like she wanted. There was even a rumor that he'd hastily married some girl and divorced her six months later. Clearly having no regard for how sacred marriage was.

If Ed had been her son, if he'd been anyone's son, he'd appreciate her. Wouldn't upset her the way Alex had.

Ed didn't like this part of himself. Didn't like the fact that he disliked Alex for no reason. It wasn't Alex's fault what happened to his mother. If anyone was at fault, it was Ed. He should have seen the signs and said something.

When Theresa Romero died, the news coming on a Sunday when she failed to show up for service, Ed felt a grief he hadn't experienced since he found Cody's body. A profound sense that he'd lost apart of himself that day.

Ed was thinking of the past and hadn't noticed the massive blond man in the all weather jacket sitting at the end of the bar staring at him.

The man had a simple face, not too intelligent but the typical sort to frequent bars.

"Sorry." The man said with a slight stutter someone might mistake for intoxication. "I... you know, didn't mean to stare. It's just, you looked a little sad is all."

"It's okay." Ed said. "I guess I was just thinking."

"Thinking?" the blond man said with a forced laugh and moved closer with his beer. "Yeah… yeah only one reason a man comes to a bar at this time of night to think. You're thinking about some woman. Right?"

The man wore a plastered on smile and Ed got an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. A sense that he shouldn't trust this person. It was that same sense that he always got around criminals and politicians.

"A gentleman doesn't discuss these things." Ed said politely.

"Aw, see I knew it!" the big man grinned. "I can always spot girl trouble. What she do? Leave you? Cheat on you?"

Ed didn't want to talk to this simpleton. The man was nice enough but he wasn't looking to have a conversation just now.

"No." Ed said.

"Come on. What happened?" the man said. "I can tell you still love her."

"I…" Ed started to say. He was ready to defend himself and Norma's honor. It was slightly insulting that this stranger was accusing her of be adulterous.

"I don't think we've met." Ed said suspiciously.

"Oh, I'm Bill." the man said and offered him his hand. "I'm a local contractor. Yeah, I work odd jobs. Redoing an old farm house right now."

"Nice to meet you Bill. I'm Ed. And no, she didn't cheat on me." Ed informed him.

"Well, so what happened?" Bill asked curiously.

Ed shook his head.

"It's nothing, it's just… a little crush. That's all." he said.

"Oh, yeah." Bill agreed. "Those are the worst. You like someone and they don't see it. They don't like you back. You still love them though. You still love them no matter what."

Ed had to agree. Apart of him would always love Norma Bates. Even if, God forbid, Alex should marry her, Ed would still be in love with her.

"Yeah, I'll still love her." Ed admitted out loud.

 **Sorry for the late update. Been keeping busy. MBLEx is in five weeks! I get that a lot of people are not too thrilled to see Ed in the picture but don't worry, Normero will always win the day. You know that. We have to have some drama.**


	68. Chapter 68

68.

~ "Alex, I don't want you getting sick to." Norma scolded.

"I'll be fine." Alex insisted.

"I'm serious. Dylan has it, I'll probably get it, that lady Maggie at the grocery store said all the kids in town have strep throat. She made sure to stash some cough medicine for me. That was really nice of her." Norma said absentmindedly.

Alex didn't say anything about Maggie Summers.

"Look I'm not staying at Sybil's place until the boys are better. This is real life, Norma. I told you I want to be here for all of it. The good and the bad." he told her while they ate breakfast alone together. It was a rare occasion indeed to have breakfast without the boys. Both children still sleeping after coming down with a fever.

"Mom!" Dylan called weakly from his bedroom.

Norma rolled her eyes and Alex already felt bad for her. It had been a trying weekend. Norman had fallen sick with the strep throat that had made him extremely cranky and crying for attention. Dylan, who was his mother insisted never got sick, fell hard with the virus and nothing would make him feel better.

"Look, I'll pick up dinner. I don't want you to over work yourself." Alex said leaning in for a kiss goodbye.

Norma pulled away.

"Alex, I don't want you to get sick. Dylan has been running a fever for the past few days and my throat hurt this morning." Norma insisted.

"Fine." Alex sighed and kissed the crown of her head instead. "I'll bring home dinner and something nice for the boys to play with. You get plenty of rest to."

"I will." Norma said pitifully. She looked at Alex and he saw that even in her exhaustion, even with the creeping virus that would knock her out for the next few days, she still looked lovely.

"Hey, I'll call you later and check on you." he promised. She smiled softly, but it was a weak smile.

"That'd be nice." she admitted.

~ "Things should be pretty quite for a few days." Tom promised. "All the kids are out with that nasty virus and parents are staying home to take care of them."

Alex hated down time at the Sheriff's station. They would have occasional lulls where nothing would happen for days, sometimes weeks on end. Tom loved it, but Alex enjoyed having something to do. Something to break up the monotony.

"Yeah Dylan and Norman both have it and Norma woke up with a sore throat this morning." Alex admitted. He glanced at Graceland who was snoring loudly on her dog bed.

So far the police dog hadn't lost any weigh even though Norma had promised she'd stopped feeding her bacon and eggs. Alex suspected there was some kind of deception between the two of them. Graceland always seemed to know where to go for treats, and it wasn't to him.

"By the way, news came over the wire, this morning, Rebecca Hamilton was acquitted of any wrong doing in Norman Bates' kidnapping." Tom said.

"What?" Alex snapped to attention in his chair and stared at the Sheriff in alarm.

Tom held his hands up as if asking Alex not to shoot.

"As I understand it, it came down to the policy of the daycare that allowed anyone to sign a child out. A policy Norma agreed on when she allowed the boys to attend." Tom said.

"Rebecca created false documents." Alex argued.

"Yes, but that didn't matter to the judge. It also made an impact that Norman wasn't physically hurt and the only places Rebecca took him were child friendly. The zoo and an amusement park. I've already drawn up a restraining order. She's to keep a thousand feet away from Norman Bates and Dylan Massett at all times." Tom explained calmly.

"Norma is not going to like this." Alex sighed.

"You might not have to tell her." Tom said. "The way I hear it, Rebecca is moving to Ohio with some guy she met while in custody. He's a prison guard and they really made a connection."

"That's typical." Alex sighed. Typical of Rebecca to land on her feet.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him.

"Bob Paris had something to do with this didn't he?" Alex asked.

Tom grimaced.

"I'm sure he did, Alex." the Sheriff said. "But Rebecca is gone and I doubt she'll ever come back to White Pine Bay. So no need to worry Norma about it. She's gone the way of Shelby and let's all just let it go."

"Doesn't it bother you, Tom, that someone can just subvert the legal system? Like we don't even matter? Bob Paris is just a bad as Keith Summers. Neither one of them will be missed." Alex said feeling his face go hot.

He could feel Tom wanted to ask. That it was on the tip of his tongue to ask but he didn't.

"No, I didn't kill Keith Summers." Alex said cooly.

"Hey, James Bond." Deputy White came sauntering up to Romero's desk. Alex turned away from Sheriff Wilson and to the always cocky, yet reliable and honest deputy.

"What?" he asked. Since he'd worn the tux to Sybil's Halloween party and everyone in the office had seen him, he'd been called all sorts of names. James Bond being the nicest.

"Sybil just put in a call for assistance with a child welfare case. You're next in the rotation." White shrugged sadly.

Alex rolled his eyes. It was never a good day when Sybil had to call for back up on a child welfare situation.

~ Norma had slept for a few hours after ensuring the boys were fed, had plenty to drink and had taken just the right amount of cough suppressant the box recommend. She was worried how fast her and the two boys had gone through the medicine. When Alex called, she'd have to have him pick up more on his way home. Yet that nice lady at the store, Maggie Summers, had said there had been a run on all over the counter medication. That she'd specifically held back cough medicine and children's tylenol for Norma.

 _'_ _Dylan is still sick. He has another day or two at least._ ' Norma thought feeling the malaise creeping over her that could only mean she'd caught the virus.

She wondered how she and Caleb had survived childhood illnesses when Dylan and Norman needed so much looking after. She was sure her mother never got them medicine. In fact, Norma hardly ever remembered being sick. Caleb never got sick either. Maybe it was just the move to a new climate that had thrown them all under the weather.

' _I'll just sleep for a while. Then, I'll feel better._ ' she thought.

~ She woke up to the door bell ringing and Norman and Dylan both curled in bed with her. Her boys still red from the fever and Dylan making little coughing noises when he breathed. They must have woken up after she'd taken her nap and gotten into bed with her.

She sat up in bed and wondered what and woken her. Why it was light outside and where Alex was.

Her doorbell rang again.

"Mom?" Dylan groaned and rolled over.

"It's okay, honey." Norma sighed and managed to slowly get out of bed. She felt weak and dizzy but knew she had to answer the door. Although she had no idea who it could be or even what time it was.

"Hello?" Norma said groggily when she opened the door to large form standing in front of her.

"Norma?" Ed Warren asked and bent down lower to meet her at eye level. It was the first time she'd noticed that his eyes were blue. She smiled weakly at noticing the nice color of them. How they were blue and looked like the ocean just now.

Ed's face was concerned and he maneuvered her over to her couch so she could sit back down.

"I'm fine." she said breathlessly. He whole world becoming a little dizzy.

"You're not fine. You've got a fever." Ed was saying as Norma immediately lay back down and fell asleep on her sofa.

~ "We talked about this, Miss Thompson." Sybil said dryly. The old dragon back in action and breathing fire at the mother who was keeping food and basic necessities from her children.

"You receive assistance that is meant to buy food for these four kids. Why isn't there ever any food in the house when I come by? Why has the school called me three times in the past week telling me that your kids are complaining that they aren't allowed to eat the good food? What's this good food your kids are talking about?" Sybil demanded.

Alex didn't want to get in the line of fire when Sybil attacked. He kept an eye on the boyfriend who was playing video games and ignoring the four skinny kids who were not dressed warm enough to be playing outside. Not when more than half the town's youngsters were home sick just now.

"Look, all they **do** is eat." Katie Thompson snapped back. Alex turned to the girl who was barely older than Norman but had already had four children by three different men.

"I feed them plenty and the school lunches take care of the rest." Katie informed Sybil with an air of compliancy that made Alex worried for the young woman's safety.

"Well, in case you didn't notice, all the schools has been closed due to a serious outbreak." Sybil told her scathingly.

Alex glanced at the fat, ugly boyfriend. Tommy Werner was a few years older than he was and had busted his knee playing football senior year. He'd never recovered from the stolen promise of glory and riches. Instead he pacified himself with drinking and general misbehavior. He would quickly take Keith Summer's place as the town drunk.

Why he was staying with Katie Thompson and her pack of children was a mystery to Alex.

"Yeah and that means more meals I have to account for." Katie Thomson accused. "I already have to hide everything from the little eating machines. My oldest girl is the worst. I caught her sneaking cereal just the other day."

"Your oldest girl is the one who was telling her teacher you were making veggie burgers for you and you boyfriend while you let your kids go hungry." Sybil reminded Katie.

"Meg gets enough." Katie said. "I don't want her getting fat. Anyway, Tommy and I are vegetarian now. It'a healthier lifestyle."

Alex noticed the lit cigarette in Katie's hand and the cans of beer littered all over the living room.

"Megan is seven years old." Sybil said. "She's growing and she needs proper nutrition."

Alex looked out the back yard at the child in question. Megan was a little older than Dylan and looked neglected, unwashed and angry. It caught Alex's attention that Katie's oldest didn't look sick, but she didn't play with the other children. She just sat alone on the battered swing set in the cold.

While Katie and Sybil were arguing, it occurred to Romero with horrific clarity why Tommy Werner was willing to put up with Katie Thompson and her four kids.

~ "Good catch, Alex." Sheriff Wilson said darkly. "The minor in question said that Tommy Werner had been sexually abusing her for several weeks now. She's with Doctor Block being examined."

"What did Tommy Werner say?" Alex grumbled after he finished typing out the arrest report.

"Aside from the fact that he admitted to molesting the girl?" Wilson asked.

Alex looked up in surprise. He hadn't expected Tommy Werner to confess so easily.

Wilson shrugged.

"Said it's all Katie's fault because she goes out to work and leaves him with the kids. That what did she expect would happen? That her oldest girl seduced him." Wilson said soberly.

"How?" Alex barked so loudly Graceland jumped slightly. "How did a seven year old seduce him?"

"Calm down, Alex." Tom said.

"No, I won't calm down." Alex grumbled and pulled the arrest report free from the typewriter. "Shelby got no punishment for what he did to Dylan. He was just politely asked to leave town. Rebecca literally kidnapped a child and because of Bob Paris, she's walking free to. Katie Thompson was starving her own kids so she and her boyfriend could have nice meals together and Tommy Werner was about to rape a seven year old. How can I calm down when we both know that Katie won't do any time at all for abusing her children. Hell, she'll probably get them back before the year is out. Tommy will cut a deal and he'll be back on the streets again."

Alex stood up and handed Sheriff Wilson the arrest report.

"What we do is a joke, Tom." he said. "We don't make any difference at all."

"I think there's a little girl right now who would disagree." Tom told him. "A little girl who knows she's not going to be hurt by her mother's boyfriend anymore."

"Yeah." Alex said bitterly. "Let me guess. Katie is standing by her man."

Tom opened his mouth, but then quickly closed it again.

"That's what I thought." Alex shook his head.

He slapped his thigh and Graceland snapped to attention. Joining him as they walked out of the station.

~ Alex had forgotten to call Norma during his shift. The day had been too long and too much had happened. All he wanted was to go home and see her and the boys. He wanted to see her sweet face forget for a while that there was such a thing as neglectful mothers and children who did without.

In the world Norma wove for her boys, a world she allowed him to inhabit, she was the one who did without before her sons did. They were always dressed in warm clean clothing, had good food and Alex would have seriously doubted she would have put up with someone like Tommy Werner.

He was slightly lost in a fantasy of coming home to Norma playing on the piano, of the boys coloring at the kitchen table and the promise of a simple, cozy evening at home. Problem was, someone else was already there in his place.


	69. Chapter 69

69.

~ "Ed, you really didn't have to do all this." Norma reminded him when he handed a plate of pancakes and syrup to Dylan.  
"Don't worry about it." Ed said. "Sorry, I couldn't do more. All I know how to make with any efficiency is pancakes."

"What's efficiency?" Dylan asked as all three of them tried to summon up the courage for an appetite. The virus had left them not wanting to eat anything but Ed Warren had insisted that they needed to eat carbohydrates and fresh fruits in order feel better. He'd even made a run to the grocery store for bananas, strawberries and more medicine.

"It means I can do something really well and really quickly." Ed smiled at the little boy as he poured another circle on batter onto the hot skillet.

Dylan nodded and slowly began cutting into his lunch of pancakes and fruit. He must have liked them, Norman to, because they were quietly and quickly.

"You to, Norma." Ed instructed when he noticed she wasn't eating.

Norma had no interest in food at all just now. She wasn't tired exactly, just knew that she needed to rest more. She wished this fog in her head would clear up and that she could swallow without her throat hurting. She hated being sick and couldn't remember feeling this bad before.

"I'm really not that hungry." Norma complained.

"Just a few bites." Ed encouraged. "At least the fruit. You need the vitamins."

Norma groaned the way a child would when faced with eating something she didn't want to, but relented at last when she tasted the heaps of butter Ed used with his cooking. He'd even splurged on the good syrup and added chocolate chips to the pancakes.

"Good." Norma admitted weakly.

"After everyone's eaten, I want you all back in bed. I'll see if I can move the TV in the bedroom so you can watch a movie or something." Ed offered.

"Oh, you don't have to do that." Norma sighed.

"Yeah!" Dylan exclaimed and Norman nodded his head and smiled.

~ "When I stayed home sick with my Aunt, we always watched Bob Barker and The Price is Right." Ed Warren said when he hooked up the cable in Norma's bedroom.

Norman and Dylan were cuddled neatly around her and waited eagerly for the picture to snap on. They knew their mother wasn't a fan of television and it was a rare treat to watch anything together in bed with her.

"I remember that show." Norma mused. "I always wondered why the prices were so high and where those people had to shop."

Ed snorted a laugh as the picture came into view and Norma breathed a sigh of relief at seeing an old episode of ' _Leave it to Beaver_ ' come on.

"My Aunt made me watch soap operas with her when I had pernicious anemia." Ed admitted.

Norma hid a smile behind her hand over the canned laughter. She and Ed exchanged a shared sympathy of how awful it must have been to be a boy and forced to watch racy soap operas with an aging Aunt.

"That's kid is named Beaver?" Dylan asked.

"Oh yeah." Ed nodded and took a seat in the floral chair next to Norma's bed. "The other son's name is Wally."

"Wasn't the Beaver's friend named Whitey?" Norma asked curiously.

"I think so." Ed admitted.

"I thought Norman was a bad name." Dylan said honestly.  
"Hey!" his mother snapped.

~ Alex recognized Ed Warren's Range Rover right away. It was parked in Romero's usual spot in Norma's driveway and Alex was forced to park on the side of the lane.

He heard the TV when came in which was odd. Norma wasn't the type to have the TV on. Even for comfort. Almost everyone he knew, including himself would keep the tv on for background noise when they were alone. Humans were social animals after all, and always wanted to live a rich fantasy life.

Norma had no need for such diversions. She preferred the close company of those around her and wanted nothing to draw her out of reality.

Alex saw the TV in the living was gone. The wires and cables threaded out as if she'd been robbed but he could still hear the noise, voices and then there was what sounded like music, and singing.

It was Elvis singing. Defiantly Elvis singing right now. He was singing his classic ' _I cant help falling in love with you_ ' and Alex followed the music to their bedroom.

The door was open and he saw Ed Warren sitting in Norma's floral chair a respectful distance away from her bed. Norma having the two boys in bed with her looked tired but happy. Both of them watching the TV while the children slept peacefully.

Alex now recognized that Norma and Ed had been watching an Elvis movie together. Most likely 'Blue Hawaii'. It had been his mother's favorite movie from a long love affair with the King.

"Alex!" Norma said with a smile. Her face brightening when she saw him appear in the doorway. She muted the TV and Alex noticed Ed looked a little startled.

"You're home early." Norma said happily.

"Yeah, Wilson give me the rest of the day off." Alex said. "Ed."

Ed Warren stood up and nodded.

"Hi, Alex." he said.

"Ed came to check on us." Norma explained easily. "Moved the TV in here so we could have something to watch."

"I could have moved the TV." Alex said.

"I know." Norma said.

"Pastor Warren made us pancakes." Dylan said waking up.

Alex felt a sudden betrayal at that but said nothing.

"Well, I better go." Ed said picking up his coat from the back of Norma's chair.

"I'll show you out." Alex offered.

There was a heavy and uncomfortable feeling between the two men as they walked the suddenly very long distance from the bedroom to the front door.

"I didn't realize Norma had called you." Alex said noticing Ed had taken the time to clean the dishes and everything after their little pancake lunch.

"She didn't." Ed said casually. "Norma mentioned the boys were sick yesterday at service and I wanted to come by and check. I'm glad I did to. She could use the help. It's what a congregation is for. We help each other in times of need."

Before they reached to front door Ed Warren turned around to face him, and Alex noticed the formerly small for his age kid was taller and broader in the shoulder than he was. He wondered why he hadn't noticed it before. He had always thought of Ed Warren as that small kid in middle school who was in braces and prone to break outs of acne.

"Norma and the boys have me. I'm the one they can depend on in times of need, Ed." Alex said. He wasn't intimidated at all by the taller man. He'd faced too much already today and won.

"We all need help, Alex. We weren't meant to go through life as an island." Ed said.

"We will call you if we need you." Alex said forcing himself to smile.  
Ed only looked mildly wounded but held onto his manners.

"I hope you do." he said.

~ Norma could sense the tension and the jealousy stirring between Alex and Ed. As soon as Alex came home and entered their bedroom, she sensed there would be trouble. There shouldn't be. He had nothing to worry about as far as Ed was concerned. She didn't like Ed Warren that way and she didn't see him as anything but a much needed friend.

There were so few people in this world she could call a friend. Norma had thought it was very kind of Ed to come over and help her today. That he'd helped her back to bed when she'd fallen asleep on the couch. That he'd fixed them lunch and cleaned up. That he'd moved the TV into the bedroom so they'd be entertained. He'd even stayed and talked to her until Alex came home. Mostly about mundane things like old movies they had both seen. Her foggy brain too sick to make sense of what he was saying. At one point, she'd even remarked how the good looking man on TV reminded her of Elvis and Ed had to tell her that it was Elvis.

"Please tell me you were nice." Norma sighed when Alex came back into their bedroom and shut the door behind them.

"I was." Alex assured her.

"Alex, Ed was just being a good person." she whispered. Dylan and Norman were both snoring on either side of her and she felt ready to fall asleep herself.

"How do you feel?" Alex asked running a hand over her forehead.

"I'll be fine." she assure him.  
"Well, don't worry, Tom gave me tomorrow off. I'll be home all day to take care of you and the boys." he said.

"Why?" Norma asked.

"I'm the golden boy again." Alex sighed.  
"What happened?" Norma asked.

"You'll read about it in the paper."

"Oh. Were you in danger?" she asked. Her mind still not working properly and she couldn't figure out what he might have done.  
"No." he promised. "But I can do no wrong at the Sheriff's office just now."

"Well, speaking of the paper." Norma said. "Ed brought me this."

She handed over the Sunday edition she must have forgotten to pick up with the boys falling sick. The front page was all about Sybil's party.

"We're on page five." Norma said. "And page six."

Alex smiled and flipped to the corresponding pages and saw the picture of him, Wilson, Tess, Norma, the boys, Sybil and Ed Warren.

He didn't bother to read the caption because his eyes were drawn to the larger color photo of him, Norma and the boys. All of them, except Norman, were smiling.

"It says we're the Romero family. Deputy Alex Romero with wife Norma, sons Dylan and Norman." Alex said curiously.

"It was an out of town photographer. At least that's what Ed said. I think Sybil told him who to photograph and that he took a few names. The paper just ran with it." Norma sighed.  
"Everyone in town will think we're already married." Alex grinned.

"Well, you can call tomorrow and have them print a correction." Norma sighed and settled back in bed.

"I'll get right on that." Alex smiled looking over the happy family gazing back at him from the newspaper.

~ Caleb clipped out the two pictures of his sister in the newspaper and thought she was far more beautiful than the wives of any senator or millionaire at that fancy party.

He and Chick had been hired to string lights and do clean up the day before and after. Chick had mentioned that Norma Louise would be there with Romero. That it was always a big deal with important people in town.

"Why is this Romero guy so important?" Caleb asked.

"I keep telling you he's a golden boy." Chick said. "Seems he keeps being in the right place at the right time and breaking open all the important cases. Plus his old man used to be Sheriff and he photographs well.

Caleb thought Norma Louise photographed better, but that was his opinion. She looked lovely in a sky blue dress and was even wearing a little crown on her head. He wasn't sure what her costume was, but she looked beautiful and her smile was radiant. Like a girl in a toothpaste commercial.

Her two boys were posed next to that Romero guy as if they were all related. The paper even going as far to give them all the same name and make it seem as if the deputy in the tuxedo was their father. Chick was sure they hadn't gotten married yet. Even asking Romero about it the next morning when he'd come to check on the progress. It had been some kind of a misprint but that Romero had laughed about it all the same.

Caleb didn't think it was funny. He also didn't think it was funny how Norma's oldest son was dressed like a cop for the party. Caleb finally looked at this child and when he did, couldn't look away. His mind going back into the past when he and Norma would play for hours outside. Both of them picking wild blueberries to stave off starvation and how'd they'd been caught by a neighbor lady who turned out to be very nice. So nice she'd fed them watermelon from her garden and took their picture eating. Caleb had been seven and Norma three. It was the oldest picture Caleb had of himself and his sister and it alarmed him to see it next to Norma's oldest son.

A child she named Dylan.

Deep down, he'd known from the moment he saw. He'd know from the first picture he'd ever seen of the little boy. How he had the same face. Same eyes and hair and ears. Even the same way his jaw would relax when looking sad.

It was something Caleb couldn't stand to look at because of the guilt that came over him but he forced himself to look at now.

He looked at his son Dylan for hours and imagined what he was like. What kind of things he liked and if he was smart and happy.

"Told you." Chick said early one morning after the Halloween Party. The giant slapped a fresh newspaper in front of Caleb and walked away. The smaller man had just finished the roof and was putting up the insulation when Chick had climbed the stairs to deliver breakfast and the newspaper.

"What?" Caleb asked and didn't wonder anymore when he say the color picture of Romero leaving a fat balding guy in handcuffs out of a police SUV. There was a smaller picture of that Sheriff Wilson giving some kind of speech and it took Caleb a little while to read the article, but it basically said Romero had arrested the fat balding man for molesting a little girl. That the man had admitted to it and that Sheriff Wilson and some DA Kim would be seeking maximum punishment under the state law.

Caleb didn't like child molesters. The little girl was barely older than his son. How could a man do that to a child? Romero looked angry and ready to beat the living hell out of that guy and Caleb wondered why he didn't do that. Why arrest him and waste taxpayer money? If Caleb had been a cop, which was a laugh, Caleb hated police, he would have just killed that guy and be done with it.

He noticed there was a small notice about Romero asking him to turn to page three which Caleb did. It was the classified and legal notices and it took Caleb forever to find what they were talking about. The print was tiny and finally he stumbled over the name of Deputy Alex Romero. The small box saying there had been a misprint on Sunday's edition of the paper. That Deputy Romero was not married to Norma Bates and the couple had no children together.

Caleb gently folded the newspaper closed and opened the bag with his breakfast. He had to get his son and Norma away from that Romero guy. Cops were no good. He'd take both of them away from here and they'd go traveling again. He almost had enough money saved up and Millie running well. Norma had probably gotten used to living in houses but she'd lived in the van before and could do it again. They'd be a family. One way or another.

~ Norma clipped out the picture of her handsome deputy and put it in her scrapbook. This made four appearances in less than a year. She'd run out of room soon and then what would she do?

She grinned at the idea of having an entire shelf devoted to Alex being in the newspaper. She knew his mother had clipped and saved articles every time he made the news for sports and for Boy Scouts. Which reminded her…

"Dylan!" she called. "Get the lead out!"

Her son raced out his bedroom with Norman behind him.

"Oh, you look very handsome." Norma smiled at her oldest in his uniform with the matching bandanna around his shoulders. "Let me get my camera."

"Why am I a Cub Scout and not a Boy Scout?" Dylan asked.

"Cubs are technically for seven to eleven years old." Alex explained. Norma noticed he also looked a little proud of Dylan in his uniform. "Deputy Washington was nice enough to make an exception because I told him you were very mature and smart for your age."

Dylan nodded.

"You were a Boy Scout to?" he asked.

"Made it all the way to Eagle." Alex said proudly.  
"I wanna make it to Eagle to." Dylan said.

"Well, you'll be a grown man graduating high school when that happens." Alex promised.

Norma felt she might cry a little when she smoothed out Dylan's hair and fixed his uniform.

"I wanna go." Norman insisted pulling on his brother's uniform.

"No, you can't!" Dylan said.

"Norman, you get to stay with us. We're going to go check on the house." Alex said gently.

"I want to go with Dylan." Norman whined.

"Tell him he can't!" Dylan cried.

Alex intervened and picked Norman up. It was one thing the brother's wouldn't share and Norma felt it was best to have Dylan do this on his own.

"Norman, when you're a big kid like your brother, you'll be a Cub Scout to." Alex said.

Norman whined a little at being left out.

"But not in my troop!" Dylan said.

"Dylan." Norma scolded. "We're going to be late."

~ Norma watched with pride as Alex, also in uniform from a day's work dropped Dylan off at his first Cub Scout meeting. She waited in the truck as Dylan, too much of a young man now to hold Alex's hand once they had crossed the street, went into the community center.

She tried not to cry at the idea Alex had put into her head of her oldest son being fully grown and becoming an Eagle Scout.

Alex was back soon enough and he looked a little proud of himself.

"Scout Master Barton was there." he said with a smile.

"Who's that?" Norma asked.

"He was my Scout Master. I guess Washington called him and told him about Dylan." Alex explained. "I used to help Scout Master Barton lead meeting in this same community center."

He looked a little misty eyed.

"Now, I'm dropping my own kid off for scouting." he said.

Norma bit her bottom lip and started the truck.

~ The house was coming along beautifully. The roof was done and rooms were all insulated and drywalled. They still had to be painted but that would be done last.

"Alex, this is amazing!" Norma said in delight as they wandered through each room and wondered what had happened to the old farm house.

"Chick can work miracles." Alex agreed. Norman had been allowed to roam the house freely. A place that would be his home to and although this wasn't his first time seeing it, he looked at it now as if it were all new.

"It smells different." Norman observed.

"It does." Norma agreed when Alex went upstairs to inspect the rooms and attic.

"Why?" Norma asked.

"Well, old wood and carpet hold odor and when they took all that out, they took the smell with it to. They put in new stuff for the walls and it all smells new." she explained.

"I liked the way it smelled before." Norman said.

Norma smiled.

"I did to, but we had to have new stuff so we could live here." she said.

"Why do we have to live here?"

"Don't you want to live here?" she asked. "We can have chickens and a garden just like Tess. You'll have your own room. Lots of places to play."

"I don't want my own room." Norman said.

"You'll like this house." Norma promised. "Once we're all moved in."

She spotted the large record cabinet that Chick had moved to the center of the room and covered with heavy plastic to keep safe.

"What's that?" Norman asked.

"Records." Norma grinned at her son when she pulled off the plastic and plugged in the old player. She saw that Alex's parents had an impressive collection and that he wasn't kidding when he said his mother was an Elvis fan.

~ Alex was more than satisfied with the work done so far. All that was left now were the bathrooms, front and back porch and the kitchen. He knew they would be the most expensive and that Christmas would be lean this year.

' _Norma's gift will have to be her engagement ring_.' Alex decided. ' _Dylan will get a new bike but it won't be a nice one. He just needs something to learn on anyway. He'll out grown it soon enough. Norman will be happy with something like a kid friendly radio maybe._ ' he mused. Lucky for him Norma had raised her children not to be spoiled and never to expect too much.

They were getting practically a brand new home for Christmas. That was enough. He looked around the old bedrooms and marveled at how simple new drywall and support beams could chase away bad memories. The house even smelled new. Like no ghosts had ever lived here at all.

When he told Simon what he was up to, the older man said he'd wanted to see it, but that he didn't want to live in the house again. That it was his and Norma's time and they needed to make a life for themselves.

It made Alex a little sad his Grandfather wouldn't want to come back and live out his days in the downstairs bedroom, but he understood why. Some ghosts wouldn't go away.

He was in his old bedroom when the music echoed up the stairs and found him. Elvis singing rich and beautiful as ever and for a moment, he was Dylan's age and his mother was trying to teach him how to dance.

"All girls want a man to dance with them, Alex." his mother had insisted. Alex kept looking at his feet and steeping on her toes till the Old Bear, in a good mood for once, stepped in and growled.

"Let me show the youngster here how it's done."

He swept his mother around as if she weighed nothing and Theresa Romero smiled as though it was her wedding day and Alex had never seen them more in love. It had been the last time he had ever seen them that happy together.

Alex went downstairs to see Norma had opened his mother's record collection and carefully selected an Elvis record. 'I Cant Help Falling in Love With You' playing now as she taught Norman how to step and sway to the music.

"Mind if I cut in, Norman?" Alex asked pulling at Norma's waist and causing her to gasp slightly.

Norman only looked curious that his mother was smiling so much.

"I'd thought you'd never ask, Deputy." she grinned and let her body melt into his as though they were at prom. Alex, ever the gentleman, kept his hand on her back as he guided her right hand in his and yet Norma insisted they dance very close.

"Think we might actually be able to move in by Christmas." Alex whispered.

"That's great." Norma sighed and rested her head on his chin.

"We can take Lucy out for a little spin. I can put Norman in the back seat."

"That car has no seatbelts."

"Fine, I'll just let him drive." he said casually. "He can't be worse than how Dylan drove."

"Alex." Norma sighed.

"She's a good car to learn on. If you can drive her, you can drive anything." he said.

"Stop making them grow up so fast." Norma scolded.

"Alright." Alex agreed.

They kept dancing as the music played on and ended and another Elvis love song spun out.


	70. Chapter 70

70.

~ "Violet dressed up like Dracula!" Norma said gleefully as she ran her bare feet over Alex's. They could finally relax in bed together after a long day of ordinary life adventures.

School, daycare, work, pick ups and grocery shopping. Endless discussions about what everyone wanted to eat, followed by Norma over ruling them all when no one could decide and making a simple pasta dish and chicken.

She had been looking forward to opening the thick, padded envelope she'd gotten from Florida that afternoon ever since it arrived in her mailbox, but couldn't do it in front of the boys. She hadn't yet explained to them about Violet, her parents or life before they were even born. In their minds, she must have come into existence when they did.

As soon as the boys were bathed and put to bed, Alex doing the dishes for her so the chores went much faster, they stole away to their bedroom to read over Vivian Harmon's elegant handwritten letter, dictated by Norma's little sister.

"Very scary." Alex grinned at the miniature version of Norma dressed as Dracula. Complete with chalk white face paint, fake blood and fangs.

Norma looked proudly over Violet's drawing of alligators in some kind of swamp before reading Vivian's letter.

"Seems Violet wants to be a professional alligator person." Norma said.  
"What's that?" Alex asked with a smile.

"I don't know but she saw alligators at some kind of park and they are her new thing now." Norma shrugged.

"Every kid has to have a thing." Alex agreed.

"Violet is taking dance, but doesn't really like it as much. She likes science club much more." Norma went on reading over the letter.

"Good for her." Alex nodded looking over the other pictures Vivian Harman sent. Most of them were just of Violet, but a few were her with her adoptive family. Her extremely attractive parents and their beautiful house that looked like it should be in Architectural Digest Magazine.

Norma's heart gave a flutter as she read over a part of the letter that was clearly devised by a child's need to know.

"What?" Alex asked sensing something was off.  
"Violet wants to know if we're getting married and can she come to the wedding." Norma breathed. "She wants to wear any color but purple."

"I get it. She doesn't like the color violet." Alex mused.

Norma put her hand to her chest and though she might cry.

"You know your little sister is welcome here. She could spend the week with us as soon as the house is finished if her parents say it's okay." Alex promised easily.

"We don't even know them, Alex." Norma sighed. "I mean, sure they seem nice on paper and in pictures, but so do a lot of people."

"You're right, we need to meet them." Alex nodded. "Before the house is finished."

"Money is too tight right now to just go to Florida for the weekend." Norma said brushing away tears.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself to face reality that she might not be able to meet her little sister for a while.

"True." Alex said lazily. He leaned over and opened his nightstand drawer. It was his side of the bed and where he kept all of his personal things that Norma never bothered to look through.

"I guess it's a good thing I got these a while back." he said. He handed Norma the airline tickets, still in their envelopes, and with the hologram seal marking them as never expiring.

"Alex!" Norma gasped.

"Tom's son, the gay one, works in the airline industry and managed to get me these at a premium rate. They won't expire. Ever. We can leave tomorrow or in ten years. It's round trip for two." he explained.

"Alex, this was too expensive!" Norma whimpered softly looking at her name and Alex's name neatly printed on the airline tickets to Florida.

"It wasn't too bad." he promised. "If you want to go see your sister. "Then that's what I want you to do."

~ "I don't know about this." Norma said for what must have been for the fiftieth time that afternoon. She'd managed to get on the plane without complaint or worry about the boys, but now that the engines were starting and there was no going back, panic was starting to set in.

"Tom and Tess are the most trust worthy people we know." Alex assured her.

He watched Norma fidget nervously in her economy class seat.

"I've never been separated from Norman for this long." she said starting to scratch her neck.

"It's only been a couple of hours." Alex said calmly readjusting her seatbelt so she would stay still.

"We're going to be gone four whole days." Norma reminded him.

"Yes, and the boys are going to be too busy being spoiled rotten by their surrogate grandparents to miss us." Alex said laying a hand on Norma's thigh when she tried to stand up despite her seat belt.

"Norma, you can call them when we land." he said noticing the other passengers were sending the young couple curious glances. "Right now I need you to take a deep breath and try to relax."

"I've never flown before." Norma admitted as the plane taxied out into the runway.

Alex felt his brows lift in surprise. Norma had lived almost everywhere in the continental United States according to Charlotte's research and the idea she'd never flown was astounding.

"There's nothing to it. I'm right here." Alex told her gently. He took her hand and felt the death grip tighten on his fingers as she tried to remain outwardly calm. The loud roar of the engines as the plane started to gain speed not helping her anxiety.

~ As soon as they were in the air, Norma seemed fine. The flight didn't even have turbulence and after a while, Norma found air travel boring.

"People do this all the time?" she bugged Alex who tried to sleep during the five hour flight.

"Yeah." he sighed and decided to watch the predictable romantic comedy inflight movie with her instead. Alex hated romantic comedies and this one, about a guy and a girl who were innocently emailing each other without knowing who they were, and yet they knew each other in real life and seemed to despise each other was irritating.

"I think it's sweet." Norma commented when the big romantic ending closed with birds chirping and music playing. Tom Hanks and meg Ryan kissing in the park and everyone very happy they had found each other at last.

"Come on." Alex huffed. "They hated each other and then somehow fell in love?"

"It can happen." Norma argued playfully. "It was meant to be."

"He ran her out of business."

"That's not the point."

"What is the point?" Alex grinned. He liked arguing with Norma sometimes about these things and could see her irritation growing that he didn't like the movie.

"The point is that they understand each other. That they comfort each other and care for each other in a way no one else dose. That's what love is all about." she said.

"So its' not business its' personal?" Alex asked playfully.

Norma glared at him.

"You know what movie **I** hate?" she asked. "I hate 'Field of Dreams'."

"Take that back. You do not hate 'Field of Dreams', Norma." Alex said feeling as though a dagger went through his heart.

"Its' a stupid movie." she said with as much cynicism as a wicked queen from a fairy tale.

"No one hates 'Field of Dreams', Norma. It's about believing in magic and… and dreams." Alex insisted.

"It made no sense. Ghosts come out of the corn field and play baseball?" Norma shrugged.

"You're just saying this to hurt me." Alex sulked.

"I'm saying this because it's true." Norma said spitefully.

A humorous cackle erupted from the seat beside them and an older bald man turned to them. His face was ready to smile and he had a very kind expression.

"You two remind me of me and my late wife Penny. How long you been married?" he asked.

"Oh-" Norma said and Alex clasped her left hand so the old man wouldn't see the absence of a wedding band.

"Long enough that we can't get out of it." Alex said with a sly smile.

Norma glared at him but played along.

"Any kids?" the old man asked.

"Two little boys." Norma said. "Back home in Oregon."

"That's a blessing." the old man smiled. "Boys are good for a mother to have. Some people say a man needs sons but that's a lie. A woman needs sons. A son always love his mother. Will always look after his mother until the day she dies and even after that. No, what a man needs is daughters. A man needs daughters because a good daughter for a man is like a good son for a woman. A daughter will look after and lover her father well into his old age."

The older man smoothed a hand over his bald head and looked a little sad.

"After my Penny died of cancer, I had to move in with my daughter Ada and her husband. She takes care of me. My son is too busy and he married a horrible woman. Disrespectful kids to. My daughter Ada is a good girl. All she does is look after me, her husband and her children. Couldn't have asked for a better child. I'm on my way to Florida to see my brother. Are you two planning on anymore kids?" the older man asked.

"Hopefully." Alex said out of politeness.

"Plan for daughters." the older man nodded. "They are worth it. You'll need them to look after you young man when your looks go. Trust me, I used to be just as good looking as you."

Alex leaned back in his seat and felt Norma rest her head against his shoulder. Their silly argument forgotten.

~ "My God, they even look attractive waiting at the gate." Norma whispered when she spotted the Harman family all the way at the arrival center. A little girl in a green dress was holding a sign that said _**Norma + Alex**_ with lots of glitter and paper flowers on it.

"Norma?" Vivian Harman said brightly. Norma gripped tightly to Alex's arm and was intimidated by the tall, tanned beauty standing next to the Pierce Brosnan look-a-like. Their perfect family, including their natural son Max.

Max was about eleven and would grow up handsome like his parents, that much was clear. He had his father's good looks and Norma was sure he was the object of affection of all the girls in his class.

However she didn't pay much attention to the perfect family because Violet insisted on being front and center.

"Are you Norma?" she demanded brightly.

"Are you Violet?" Norma asked with a grin. She could hardly believe she was looking at a miniature version of herself. It was like going back in time to how her childhood should have been. To a life she should have lead. Freed from abuse and heart ache of any kind.

"You're really beautiful." Violet said handing her the poster. "I made you this."

"You MADE this?" Norma exclaimed as though the poster had to have been store bought it was so nice. "By yourself?"

"Mom helped with the letters." Violet admitted.

"It's so nice." Norma said honestly and ran a hand through her little sister's hair.

"Your hair is just like mine." she admitted sadly.

~ The Harman's house was just as amazing as they were. Amazing, expensive looking and useless in Alex's opinion.

So much of it was just for show. Opulent grand entrance hall and a sunken living room that no one would want to use. A floating staircase that made him and Norma nervous to see the kids run up and down on, and Vivian and Ben were telling them about the mango tree coffee table.

"Renewable resources." Ben said. "Important to set the example. Let me show you my study."

"Okay." Alex said looking at the ugly coffee table that no doubt cost a fortune.

"We redid the kitchen when we bought the place. Vivian's a great cook. I bought her cooking lessons for our anniversary and she ended up teaching the instructor a few things."

"Yeah, Norma's a great cook to." Alex said feeling defensive around Ben Harman and all his nice things.

' _All of this is just armor_.' he reminded himself. ' _We're on their turf and they feel defensive that Norma is family.'_

"So, how long have you and Norma been together?" Ben said offering Alex a seat in a comfortable looking chair across from him.

It occurred to Alex that this wasn't just Ben's home office but where he brought clients for therapy sessions. Alex was reminded of the few times the bay had frozen over when he was younger and his father had told him about kids falling into the ice and dying.

"Be careful, Alex. Always watch your step when your on the ice. Pretend your talking to politicians and therapists. Move slowly and commit to nothing." the Old bear had said.

"Awhile." Alex said indifferently and without any real answer.

"Norma, in her letters, says you two are planning to get married." Ben said crossing his legs and surveying Alex like a typical therapist.

Alex said nothing, but pretended to have great interest in a coffee table book about local fish.

"Do a lot a fishing, Alex?" Ben asked.

"I do." Romero said looking at an enormous catfish and wondering if Norma would hate him forever if he rented a boat and did some fishing during their stay here. "The sheriff and I go every Sunday with Dylan and fish in the bay."

"Dylan." Ben said knowingly. "Norma's older son."

"We don't have the same kind of fish you have down here." Alex said tying to maneuver the conversation to safer waters. What kind of man didn't want to talk about fishing? If Ben refused to talk about baseball all hope was lost.

"Does it worry you?" Ben asked.

"The fish down here?" Alex asked. "Not really."

"No, I mean being with a woman who has two children from two previous marriages." Ben said growing slightly irritated.

Alex looked over the book and counted to ten. Ben Harman didn't count on the fact that Deputy Alex Romero, although he dressed casual here, was a skilled lawman. He'd been trained to evade probing questions and not to spill out his life story to anyone. Ben Harman wouldn't get any dirt on him today or any other day.

"Both her children have different fathers. The first one abandoned his own son and the other one… well, I had to do my research before allowing you into my home of course. The other one, you shot, Deputy." Ben accused.

Alex didn't blink. Didn't let this even stir him a bit. He closed the book on local fish and smiled warmly at Ben Harman.

"In the line of duty. Yes." he said in a cold voice. The Old Bear's tone exactly. "Got a medal for it, commendation from the mayor and my picture in the paper."

Ben looked slightly horrified by the admission.

"You know, Ben, I hope the day never comes that you'll have to use deadly force to defend your lovely wife and family from some sadist. Some horrible man who invades your nice house here and terrorizes your children. Who holds your family hostage and breaks your wife's arm so badly the bones are sticking out of the skin. That's the situation I walked into. That's the reality I faced. I'm willing to live with that decision because Sam Bates refused to stand down when ordered to. Because I believed he would kill his wife, his son and possibly myself if given the chance. But it's the kind of thing I was trained for, isn't it?" Alex said as eloquently as if he were giving a deposition at a trial.

Ben looked at him a little stunned.

"Where's the bathroom?" Alex asked brightly.

"Um, down the hall." Ben pointed to the door.

"Gonna stretch my legs. Maybe Norma and I will go for a walk. It was a long flight." Alex said with a smile.

~ Norma was in Violet's bedroom when Alex found her. The little girl had her bedroom cheerfully decorated in blues and yellows. Complete with a princess style heart shaped bed.

"You play piano?" Violet asked. "I wanted to learn but it's hard."

"You just have to keep practicing and then it suddenly becomes easier. I promise." Norma said honestly. "I used to think it was hard to and I wanted to quit but then, one day, I noticed it wasn't as hard anymore."

"Mom, wants to teach me but she's so good." Violet said. The two of them were redecorating her dollhouse and Norma lamented again the fact that she didn't have a childhood like this.

"Norma!" she heard a hiss and turned to see Alex leaning in the doorway. He was too much a gentleman to step into a little girl's bedroom even with permission. Not even his feet would cross the threshold. It was as if he were a vampire and Violet and Norma were as safe as stars in the sky in her room.

"What?" Norma mouthed silently and Alex waved at her to come talk to him.

"I'll be right back." she said to her little sister.

"Okay." Violet nodded.

"Alex, what the hell?" Norma demanded when they were alone in the hall and he'd closed her bedroom door so the little girl wouldn't overhear.

"We need to be careful around Ben and Vivian." Alex told her.

"Careful.?" Norma smiled. "What do you mean?"

Alex looked behind him to make sure he wasn't followed. The sharp corners of this house gave him the creeps.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Ben had me in his office and tried to shrink me." Alex said.

"He came on to you?" Norma asked.

"No, he questioned me about our relationship and about shooting Sam. He's going to try and get answers from you next. Just deflect him. Don't tell him anything. They want information. I don't know why, but they want to know everything about us." Alex said worriedly.

"That's normal. They're my sister's adoptive parents." Norma said.

"I'm not talking about medical history." Alex said. "He wanted me to start weeping and talking about my fears about being with a single mother of two."

Norma felt fear prickle the back of her neck.

"We have to be careful." Alex whispered. "We can't let them know anything or they'll find out everything. They might never let you see Violet again."

 **Wanted to throw the "Field of Dreams" reference in this chapter because I HATED that movie. My husband loves that movie and I swear I thought he might break up with me when he found out I didn't like it. LOL.**

 **It's our 16 year wedding anniversary today. We're celebrating Sunday though.**

 **Ben and Vivian Harman are going to be the same Ben and Vivian Harman from AHS: Murder House. This won't be the last we see of them either and yes, we need to be worried about them.**


	71. Chapter 71

71.

~ "So Norma, tell us about yourself." Ben said over dinner. Norma and Violet were engaging in secretive whispers side by side. Norma accusing Violet of liking a boy at school and Violet denying it.

"Good." Norma whispered. "Boys are trouble. I should know, I have two of them at home. You don't have have to like any of them if you don't want to."

It was more like girlfriends were huddled together discussing their love life than a grown woman and child at a family dinner.

"What?" Norma asked when Ben coughed rudely.  
"I was asking about you. We really don't know that much about you. What do you do exactly? A cook in a restaurant?" he asked. His brow furrowed a little as if Norma's career path was something shameful.

"Well, not exactly." Norma said and could feel her courage falter as it always did around these elitist people.

"Norma's just being modest." Alex smiled proudly. "She's lead pastry chef for the best catering company in the entire trip county area."

Alex didn't elaborate that Hillary ran the **only** catering company in the tai-county area and Norma was the only pastry chef worth a damn.

"She doesn't like to brag because people are always wanting her to do wedding cakes for them and of course give them a family friend discount." Alex looked at Norma knowingly.

"Of course." she nodded.

"Its' best we keep her gifts quite. Otherwise everyone will be after her and she'd never get to spend time with the family." Alex went on.

"I also play piano for the church services and choir practice." Norma added helpfully. Ben and Vivian Harman isn't look impressed.

"You're religious?" Ben asked. "Interesting."

Norma felt the weight of an unnamable judgement wash over her. She wasn't exactly religious. She certainly wasn't raised in the church, but Ed Warren had been so kind and welcoming to her, she felt it was a betrayal to not defend his church.

Besides, he spoke with such unflinching faith and certainty in his sermons, Norma found it hard not to trust him when he spoke of heaven and being redeemed.

"Well…" she stammered and instead of waiting for Alex to rescue her, she saved herself.

"You know faith aside, the church helps people. Whatever you believe or don't believe isn't the issue. Just last week, the boys and I were helping restock the church's food bank. It was good chance to teach them to be grateful for what they have. Pastor Warren cares for his community just as much as Alex does and it's a better community because of it."

She sat up a little straiter in her chair and saw the discomfort on Ben Harman's face. His wife Vivian shot him a smug look.

It was as if she were saying:

 _'Good for you, Norma.'_

~ "His name is Gerald Hews and he killed his mother last year." Ben Harman explained as the two couples retired in the sunken living room for wine and talk about their professional lives.

Norma didn't like that Violet was entrusted to bathe and dress herself without being checked on. Dylan was notorious for not brushing his teeth and she made a mental note to check on Violet before she and Alex retired for the night.

"Awful." Alex said bringing Norma back to the conversation at hand.

"Yeah he was only ten at the time and I had to determine if he was mentally fit to stand trial." Ben explained as if he'd heroically been the one to find the bodies and clap the monster in handcuffs.

"Was he?" Alex asked skeptically.

"Well, Hews tried to fake his way through the standard visit with me. Talking about how he didn't feel anything when he poisoned his mother. Claimed he did it because she took up with another man after his father left with the maid the family had hired. Father never contacted the family and Hews took it hard." Ben explained. "But it was clear he was of sound mind. He was found guilty and is doing twenty at a maximum security wing in Georgia."

Norma wondered why Ben called the child by his last name. Sure he was a murderer, but he was still not much older than Violet.

"Seemed Hews become obsessed with the idea of his mother having sexual relations with this new guy. A family man who had left his own wife and three young daughters to start over with Mrs. Hews and her son." Ben went on. "Mrs. Hews lover survived the attempted murder, but only because he didn't drink that much and managed to vomit and call for help. When paramedics arrived, Hews admitted to everything."

"How could a son kill his own mother?" Norma asked with a shudder.

"In my discussion with him, Hews recounted having several Oedipus type fantasies about his mother. One where he was a sexual conquer. Even going so far as to elaborate on rape fantasies about his mother-" Ben went on.

"Should you be telling any of this to us?" Alex interrupted. Norma felt her stomach turning at the thought of a son raping his mother and felt Alex take her hand. "What about doctor patient confidentiality?"  
"Ben is writing a book about Gerald Hews." Vivian sighed as if bored. "Doctor patient privilege doesn't apply if it's a court appointed therapist trying to rule out insanity and the person was found guilty."

"I think Gerald Hews could have been the next Ed Gein if he hadn't been stopped." Ben said with the enthusiasm of a boy at Christmas.

"Who?" Norma asked.

"The Butcher of Plainfield Wisconsin." Alex said darkly. Clearly he didn't like the path this conversation had taken. "Back in the fifties he killed at least one woman and dug up the bodies of more than a dozen recently deceased corpses."

"Yes, doing terrible things to the bodies." Ben said with sadistic joy. "He was the inspiration behind Hannibal Lector and Leather-Face. Ed Gein also had a perverse mother fixation."

"I'm going to go check on Violet and go to bed." Norma said. She'd had enough of this conversation and was thankful for an easy way out.

~ Violet was good about doing what she was told. When Norma learned in to hug her good night she smelled toothpaste and the smell of soap and freshly washed hair.

"What do you want to do tomorrow?" she asked the little girl. "Its' up to you."

"We can go to the zoo and I can show you the alligators." Violet said.

"That sounds fun. Alex might like that." Norma whispered in dark bedroom.

"Is it scary having a policeman around all the time?" Violet asked.

"Why would it be scary?" Norma laughed.

"What if you break a rule?"

"Everyone breaks a rule sometimes. Alex only cares about the big rules that keeps people safe." Norma assured her.

"I overheard Dad telling a friend over the phone that Alex shot your husband." Violet said.

Norma took a deep breath.

"Yes, he had to."

"Why?"

"My husband Sam was drunk. He was really mean and he hurt me really bad. It wasn't the first time he hurt me either." Norma explained.

"Were you scared?"

"Not when Alex was there."

"He saved you?"

"Yes. He saved Dylan and Norman to."

"You could have died?" Violet asked.

Norma didn't know how to answer but Violet seemed to not be finished.

"I almost died in a fire. Our real mom set the house on fire and tried to kill me." she said in a whisper.

"Who told you that?" Norma asked.

"Max did. He found my file and read it. He told me my real mother thought I was possessed by demons and set the house on fire. That we have an older brother who's been in prison and you just vanished when you were seventeen." Violet explained.

The little girl looked thoughtful.

"Was it scary to almost die?" she asked.

"No more talk like this." Norma ordered. "I'm alive and you're alive and we're here together. We're both going to be old ladies and laughing about all this so no more sad talk."

She leaned over and kissed Violet on the cheek and smoothed out her hair.

"Goodnight." she whispered.

~ "It was so strange." Norma said once she and Alex were alone in the guest room that night.

"Tell me about it." Alex muttered.

He glanced down at Norma's well shaped legs that peaked out under one of his torn beyond repair dress shirts.

It was so unfair how women could look sexy in just about anything in a man's wardrobe. Norma requisitioning his old dress shirt as a nightgown had reasoned it wouldn't have any appeal to Alex. Not like the slinky, lacy slips she'd left back at home had. She didn't count on the way her slender body made his old dress shirt seemed to dangerously float around her body. Always in danger of slipping off. Her nice legs and well toned bottom were the subject of much appreciation when ever she moved.

Teasing him with that delightful hint famine lace underwear she wore under the boyish shirt.

"Alex." she said coldly and he had to rip his eyes away from the pink lace of her panties that had been peeking through the gap of his old dress shirt.

"Sorry." he said quickly. "What?"

"I was saying it was strange." she said in mild irritation. "After dinner?"

"About the kid?" he asked.

Norma moving around didn't help. The dress shirt now moving with her and the air-conditioning was on too high. Her body responding to the cold with delightful erect nipples and lose breasts that seemed to sway beautifully and beckon to him.

"That and that awful killer." Norma went on. "Why would he want to write about those kinds of things?"

"You read crime novels." Alex pointed out.

" **Fictional** crime novels." Norma told him. "Agatha Christie. Novels about fake victims. Not true crime with real victims. That little boy shouldn't have killed his mother, but he was only ten years old. He sounded more like he was confused."

"I agree." Alex said sadly. When Norma was upset and agitated like this, there was little chance of sexual satisfaction for him. Even less if she was upset about children.

"What if he was being sexually abused by his mother?" Norma asked. "I mean, that would explain a lot."

"Norma, come to bed." Alex ordered. "Don't think about it anymore."

She let out a sigh and looked annoyed but did as he wanted. She allowed him to hold her for a while before she whispered her fears about Violet.

"You knows all about the fire." she said in the darkness.

"How?"

"That brother of hers told her. Told her all about it."

"He's a little shit. Called it the second I saw him."

"Maybe we should make a petition to gain custody." Norma whispered.

"It would be a hard fight." Alex reminded her. "The Harman's are rich, educated, treated her well."

"Ben sent a ten year old away for murder and is writing a book about it. He talks about that Ed Gein guy like he wants to marry him. Vivian hates her husband, you can tell and the brother is checked out of this family." Norma huffed.

"Who's to say a good lawyer won't bring up all our faults?" Alex reminded her. "Don't forget I shot your husband and now we're together. That will raise a lot of suspicion. Not to mention the truth about Caleb might come out."

Norma sighed in frustration.

"They are a little eccentric but they seem to treat Violet well." he reminded her.

"I know." she said.

"Let's see how the rest of the week goes." he whispered running a hand along the lace of her panties.


	72. Chapter 72

72.

~ Ben and Vivian didn't seem to care where Alex and Norma took Violet so long as everyone was back before five and in one piece. Violet at age seven, had a better plan for sight seeing than Norma did and Alex found he enjoyed the little girl's passion for the prehistoric alligators that lurked in the swamps. The tour guide had easily spotted the fearsome predators and Alex had to admit he almost mistook them for floating logs till guid threw raw chicken at them and Violet clapped in delight as the alligators attacked.

"We'll have to bring Dylan here. He'd love this." Alex mentioned to Norma who wrinkled her nose at the display of gore.

"Wanna feed the gator, little lady?" the tour guide offered.

"Careful!" Norma called out and braced Violet by the waist securing her in the boat as she tossed some raw chicken out into the swamp.

Another gator went after it and there seemed to be a fight.

"Okay wash you hands." Norma instructed seeming now more worried about the fact raw chicken was involved rather than the danger of monsters in the water not ten feet from where they were.

They'd be too afraid of Norma to attack, Alex reasoned.

He was fascinated by them. Rarely was there an animal in the water that was dangerous where he lived and the tour guide was telling them about accidents involving grown mens arms being pulled off. How murders were hidden by feeding bodies to these creatures all the time.

"Serves them right." Norma huffed. "Messing with those things."

~ The rest of the afternoon went smoother. They went to an aquarium with the heat of the day. Even though it was mid November and cold Oregon, in Florida, it was hot and muggy. The aquarium was cold, dark and a maze fish tanks. School was still in session so it was almost empty. The Harman's pulling Violet out of her first grade class for three days just of this visit.

"You eat the fish you catch?" Violet asked Alex when he lifted her up to get a better look at glowing jellyfish.

"Yeah. Not jellyfish though." he said. "We buy jellyfish in a jar to go with peanut butter."

"Alex, don't tease her." Norma rolled her eyes.

Violet giggled and wanted to see reptiles next.

~ If little girls were like Violet, Romero was sold on the idea. She wasn't squeamish when it came to the petting zoo and wanted to explore all the oddities of science and nature.

She didn't talk or even act like other kids either. It was more like she was his intellectual equal. She made him kneel down when they spoke to each other so they could make eye contact when he explained the different evolutionary processes. It was a sad interpretation from what he remembered in seventh grade biology. Yet, Violet seemed to think he was an able scientist and wanted to know more.

By five o'clock, all of them were exhausted and glad to go home.

~ Norma wasn't impressed with Vivian's cooking. If this woman had cooking lessons, Vivian Harman should have demanded her money back.

"Oh, everyone likes Prego." Vivian said as Norma browned the ground beef and asked when did she want to start making the marinara sauce in the food processor.

"Oh, it's nothing to make the sauce. You just need tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper, onions, chives, cheese, and a double boiler." Norma said and wondered silently why Vivian didn't cook with turkey meat or black beans instead of ground beef. Norma almost never used red meat.

Vivian sipped her glass of white whine and smiled.

"We can't all be suzy home maker, Norma." she said smugly. "The jar is in the pantry."

~ Alex had forgotten what ordinary food tasted like. How it sat uncomfortably on the stomach and how it didn't taste right on the palette. How the smells didn't beckon you and didn't make you clean you plate.

The pasta was okay, but it wasn't that special pasta Norma sometimes made for scratch on her day off and hung in great strips as though they were in Italy. The sauce was store bought and tasted little better than ketchup. The meat was too fattening and hit his stomach like a rock after so many months of lean, meals that were better for his health.

He glance at Norma who picked around her plate. The Harman's and the kids eating ever bite.

~ The next day and the next, Alex and Norma enjoyed their time with Violet. They went to a movie, a craft store where Violet and Norma made beaded necklaces for each other. Alex complaining with a smile that they used every bead in the store.

Norma not arguing this fact as she and Violet sat in the sunken living room together and selected each bead with care to build their necklaces with.

"It matches your eyes." Violet said when she hung the beaded necklace over Norma's neck. The elaborate beads had more blue than any other color and even Alex would admit later, it was very nice work and looked store bought.

"It does." Norma agreed placing her necklace over Violet's neck. "I made yours more yellow so you'll always be a happy girl."

Violet smiled.

"How come you have blue eyes and I have brown?" she asked.

Norma glanced at Alex who grinned from his spot on the couch. He'd been keeping busy at the house looking over Ben's psychology text books. It was a subject the cop in him found interesting.

"That's just how you were born." Norma said. "Lots of siblings look different."

"We look alike except for the eye color." Violet reminded her.

"It's how people will tell us apart when we get older." Norma assured her.

"Oh." Violet thought about that and found the logic was sound.

"Dose our brother have blue eyes or brown eyes?" Violet asked.

Norma looked nervously at Alex who met her gaze calmly.

"He- he has blue eyes." Norma said faltering slightly.

"Did you and our brother grow up together?"

"Yes." Norma said cleaning up the remains of their crafting.

"Did you get along?" Violet asked hopefully.

"When we were little we did." Norma smiled honestly. "We didn't have a nice home like this when we were your age. I remember once we snuck onto a neighbors farm and ate a lot of strawberries one summer. So many strawberries it made us sick for days."

Violet smiled in delight.

"Why did you eat so many?" she exclaimed.

"We were hungry." Norma explained sadly. She nervously dusted off the mango wood coffee table and placed the frivolous picture books no one actually read back on them. Books that were just for show. Just like this house. Just like the Harman's themselves.

"You couldn't go home and have dinner?" Violet asked. Her little face not understanding.

Norma took a deep breath and she gently clasped her hands in her little sister's.

"Violet, one of the reasons you have a new mom and dad is because our biological parents weren't ever very good at taking care of their kids. They didn't take care of me or our brother. They let us go without food, without a safe place to live and a lot of times, they were really mean to us." Norma explained in words a child would understand.

"I'm sorry." Violet said in a panic.

"None of that is your fault." Norma told her quickly. "You're a lucky girl because your new parents are so good to you." She looked around the overly dramatic house that was meant to impress visitors and was not suitable for day to day living. "I'd have loved to live in a home like this when I was little."

"When can I come and visit you and Alex? I want to meet Norman and Dylan!" Violet said. The horrors of Norma's childhood easily forgotten.

"When your parents say it's okay." Alex interrupted. "It's a long trip to Oregon."

"You'll see the farm house Alex grew up in." Norma said with a smile. It's the house his dad grew up in and his grandfather grew up in to."

"It's really old." Violet said logically.

"And we're even going to let you ride in an old car that belonged to my grandmother. But only around the driveway." Alex warned when Norma shot him a dirty look.

"I want to go now." Violet said.

"You'll have to wait. We'll have a room all ready for you and it will always be your bedroom." Norma promised.

Already, she and Alex had set aside the smaller back bedroom that had been his mother's sewing room as Violet's bedroom when she came to visit.

"Really?" Violet asked and when Norma nodded she threw her arms around her neck.  
"What if I wanted to stay with you and Alex forever?" she whispered in Norma's ear.

~ "I'm sorry you didn't have enough when you were little." Violet said when Norma tucked her in that night.

Vivian Harman had made tacos that night and neglected to heat up the crunchy taco shells in the oven first. The result was shells that tasted stale and sour. Again with red meat and caned refried beans and rice.

"It wasn't all bad." Norma promised softly. "I think it taught us to look after each other and ourselves."

"But you were sad." Violet said.

"Not always." Norma said. "One time we were walking across a frozen lake and I fell in. Caleb pulled me out. He wrapped me up so I wouldn't freeze to death. I remember thinking he was a hero."

"I wish I could meet Caleb." Violet said innocently. "Why can't we see him?"

Norma felt a sadness radiate through her and it must have shown.

"I think its' best you don't see Caleb. People change, Violet. Sometimes not for the best." she explained.

"You said he was a hero." Violet proclaimed wrinkling her little face just like Norma did when she was angry.

Norma leaned against the railing of the chair she was sitting on.

"Caleb was nice when we were kids. But he changed. He became very mean to me." she explained slowly.

"How?" Violet asked.

Norma shrugged. She knew the Harman's would probe Violet for information as soon as she and Alex left in the morning and she couldn't expose too much about her past.

"He just became a very sad and angry person. If I could change the past I would, Violet. What matters now is the future." Norma said at last.

~ Goodbyes were always sad, but Violet didn't seem to want let Alex go.

He didn't feel any suspicious of the Harman family. No warning lights were going off and his cop instincts weren't bothering him. Nothing told him that the dad was hurting her or the mom was a lush or the brother was a perverted psychopath.

Violet seemed to want to cling to her only blood relation. That was all. She felt a connection to Norma and to him in a way that was just as real as his connection to Dylan.

If Norma had come to town that rainy night with **three** children, Dylan, Norman and Violet, instead of just the two boys, Alex was sure he'd have bonded with the young girl with as much ease as he had with Dylan. She seemed to think like him. Was very practical and wasn't afraid to call an alligator an alligator instead of a log.

"Do you think Norman will like his present?" Violet asked Romero when she looked worriedly over the stuffed gator she'd picked out for him special.

"I think he will love it. He likes stuffed animals. Alex said honestly.  
"What about Dylan? Boys are hard to shop for." Violet stood on tiptoe and checked on the other gift bag Alex held.

"Not Dylan." he said. "He's going to love a toy robot and I'm sure he's going to earn a merit badge just putting it together."

"Good." Violet sighed. "Are Dylan and Norman nice?"

"Very nice." Alex assured her and glance at Norma talking to Ben and Vivian in private. "Your sister is pretty strict when it comes to raising little boys."  
"Are you going to marry my sister?"

"Yes." Alex said unflinchingly.

"When?"

"In a few months."

"Can I come?"

"Of course. You're going to be in the wedding we hope." Alex said.

"Good." Violet breathed. "Can I come live with you after you get married?"

Alex glanced at the Harman family. Perfect and beautiful with their name brand clothes and their $500 sunglasses.

"Why don't you want to live with your mom and dad?" he asked her.

"Because I'm not really theirs." Violet said logically.

~ "I told you I'd make it home without crying." Norma said and brushed away tears from her face as they left the terminal.

It was good to be home with the gray overcast and cold, cold rain. Alex hated the heavy, oppressive feel of the Florida heat and found the chill in the air refreshing.

"Want to go and check on the house with me before we pick up the boys?" Alex asked when she'd composed herself.

"Yes." she said. "It'll be nice to see a normal looking house again."

~ Norma had missed the sights and smells of home. The weather making everything green and releasing fragrances in the air that were rich and forrest like. Almost primeval. When they approached the farm house, she scowled at the two men carrying a toilet into the house.

"Who's that?" she pointed at the large hulking man with sandy blond hair.

"That must be Bill. The guy Chick hired on to help. He's the one who did the roof." Alex told her and got out of the cab.

Norma followed him into the house and saw that in the past two weeks since she'd seen it last, there'd been a lot more improvements. The kitchen was being worked on. The old cabinets were being sanded down and stained. The original redwood gleaming brightly as if made of blood and Norma could already picture herself cooking in the well designed space with it's big farmhouse sink.

"No, Chick, we're not putting in a clawfoot bathtub." Alex was snarling at the giant man who was coming out of the redone bathroom.

"Why not? This house was built to house one. In fact the original is in the basement. Bill and I just have to get it up here, weld it, seal it and coat it." Chick was explaining.

"Those old tubs were taken out of a reason." Alex sighed. "Full of lead and once they are in a bathroom, they are impossible to remove. Took my grandfather six men to haul that into the basement. It was like a funeral procession."

"Hence the **sealing** of it." Chick explained as if Alex was simple minded.

"I'd love a claw foot bathtub." Norma said helpfully.

"The misses says yes." Chick waved a hand at Norma, took off his hat, placed it on his chest and bowed a _Thank You_ to her.

"You're not helping." Alex said to her. "It's going to take too long and you'll have to hire too many men to bring that upstairs. We can manage with a new lighter reproduction from the hardware store."

"I'm an artist, sir." Chick said looking insulted.

"Well, I'm not." Alex shrugged.

Norma bit her lip to keep from smiling when she noticed the extra man Chick had hired trying to scurry off the back porch. He turned nervously around looking towards the living room window to make sure no one could see him and Norma caught his face. A face she'd recognized anywhere. A face she saw in her son everyday and in her nightmares almost overnight till she met Alex.

"Caleb?" she whispered feeling her blood turn cold. Her body seeming to fall through the ice all over again with no one there to rescue her.


	73. Chapter 73

73.

~ Alex didn't notice when Norma abandoned him and Chick to go outside. She had to be wrong. She couldn't have seen when she was seeing. Caleb was still in prison. Because of some bar fight. Wasn't he? How could he be here in almost hidden farm in a remote part of Oregon?

For him to even be here at all was an unbelievable coincidence or else he'd somehow found her.

No, it couldn't be Caleb. It couldn't be her brother. Even now as she followed him like a jungle cat stalking its' prey, she was sure it wasn't him. The man in front of her rushed quickly to the barn where Alex stored Lucy and the old farm equipment. His hefty body was hunched over as if trying to minimize his bulk. Even his head shrunk into his jacket like a frightened turtle. She'd never know her brother to walk like that.

Still, the sandy blond hair, Dylan's hair exactly, was there. Wild and sticking out at every angle.

The figure ducked into the barn and she lost sight of him. Quick to pick up speed and strangely enough, not afraid of coming face to face with him, Norma pulled open the barn door letting light stream in.

She'd hardly ever been inside the well constructed barn that Alex used to store Simon's old car. Lucy was primly parked on a ramp in case of flooding and her body covered in a custom made tarp fitted snugly over her. All other equipment and possible things that might endanger the car were kept well away. On the off chance some errant ladder or tool might fall and dent the indestructible beast of an automobile.

Daylight streamed into the barn windows, but the interior was still dark as though it were built underground. The tall ceiling even lending itself to a cavernous feeling with its' long forgotten cow and horse stalls and generations of Romero men working on various machinery. Now all these stalls housed was Alex's boyhood bicycle. The rest was filled with junk. Alex told her the barn was built by Simon and his father with a grant from the government during the depression. For a while they had kept horses and cows, but they could never make much of a profit from it. By the time Alex was Dylan's age, there were no farm animals at all on the property.

Norma squinted in the darkness and saw the hunched figure trying to hide behind an old gas stove that was probably as old at the farm house.

Alex's family had a habit of never throwing things away. If something was deemed unusable, it was put away in storage until such a time came when someone would find a use for it again.

Norma had no such affection for objects. Her transit childhood had taught her the benefits of not forming attachments to anything. Not to things and certainly not to people. She wondered what it was like to live in a home that you great-grandfather had built. To know that you'd raise your own children there.

No wonder the family couldn't stand to part with things. Each item must have felt like a part of their shared history. Norma had no history. Except what was looking her in the eyes right now.

"Norma Louise?" Caleb asked creeping out from the shadows.

Norma took a precautionary step back. Her heart racing with raw panic and fear that her worst nightmares had come to life, but all that was overruled by the anger that rushed over her.

Anger that her brother had done such a disgusting thing to her and made her think it was her fault. Made her think she had caused her own sexual assault. Made her think she was dirty and manipulative and wrong. Made her feel wrong for her beautiful son and worst of all, came back now to haunt her. To mock her.

"What are you doing here?" she breathed. Her pulse snapping in her body so hard she couldn't see strait. If she screamed, if she went running to Alex now, Caleb would be dead. No questions asked. She knew that just as surely as she knew the sun would rise tomorrow.

She had to try not scream in anger when Caleb smiled and greeted her as if they were friends.

"Wow! Look at you. You look so pretty." Caleb said shuffling over to her like a dog wanting a treat.

Norma took another step back.

"You can't be here." she said. "What are you doing here?"

"You know… um… the last time I saw you, your hair was different. It was longer? I think it was darker to. I like it better this way. I think it looks nice. That Romero guy, he likes it like that?" Caleb asked.

Norma stared at him in disbelief. Were they really going to catch up on small talk? Was he really going to pretend that he didn't force himself on her almost every night since she was thirteen? Before she was even a woman she was being preyed on by her own brother. She wasn't safe in her own bed from the person she trusted most.

"How did you find me?" Norma asked bringing up her hands together as if in prayer.

"You were in the newspaper." Caleb said with that shy smile he'd had since boyhood. "You… you and Dylan."

"Don't!" Norma warned. She felt her heart racing and she wanted to run all the way home, pack a bag and leave town with the boys that day. She could never run far enough or fast enough to escape the past it seemed. Standing before her was proof that it would always catch up to her. Always taunt her with its' filth and degrading truths.

"Yeah, you were hurt and it said that Romero guy shot your husband. I recognized you and I came down to see if you needed help." Caleb went on.

"I don't need your help." Norma snapped bitterly.

"Yeah, I see you're getting along alright." Caleb said bashfully. "Chick said you're going to move into that big house when it's done. I wanted to make sure it was done right. It's the least I could do."

"Caleb,You can't be here." Norma breathed. "Alex knows everything about you. Everything. He will kill you."

Perhaps it was the hazy light that streamed into the barn. Or the smell of old wood that had been aged over sixty years, but Norma was reminded of all the lost days and nights of her childhood with her brother. The innocent days where he was her best friend and nothing more. Where they protected each other because they had nothing else.

He was the brother who paid for her piano lessons. Who worked extra jobs so that she could have a nice dress for school. Who helped her rob vegetable gardens when there was nothing to eat. Who gave her tiny toy unicorns that she still clung to even if she claimed she never held onto material things.

Caleb looked confused.

"I- I haven't done anything wrong." he said in a childlike voice of the truly innocent. A stutter that teachers had used against him and labeled as slow.  
"I told him." Norma said with a shaky voice. "I told him what you did to me. I told him everything."  
"I didn't do anything to you." Caleb said sadly stepping closer. "You… you and me, we were close. Then you left. Now, I thought we could be a family again."

"No!' Norma said. She took a deep breath when her fearsome brother looked stunned by her outburst. "Caleb, I don't want you here."

"Norma…" Caleb said pleadingly. "I… I ain't got no one left. Mom's in prison and Dad's in the wind again. I got no one."

"Leave." Norma ordered and started to back away. "You're done hurting me. Now get out."

She refused to look back at the barn and marched strait to the house. She could tell Alex to fire 'Bill' but he'd just be suspicious and want to know why. She could tell him the truth, but she couldn't make herself talk about Caleb to Alex again. Once had been more than enough. She didn't want to have to keep reminding him of the horrible origin of her oldest son. A child Alex treated and thought of like his own. She couldn't jeopardize her relationship with Alex by bring up Caleb again. Not now, not ever.

"We need to go get the boys." Norma said when she conveniently met Alex and Chick on the front porch. The pair still arguing about style over economy.

"Sure." Alex said. "How much longer till the plumbing is done?"

"About two weeks if the weather holds." Chick said. "Bill's a good worker and we can get it done."

"I don't want him here." Norma snapped irritably. She took the keys from Alex and climbed into the farm truck, starting the engine as if she meant to leave alone.

"What? Why?" Alex asked.

"I just don't." Norma sighed. "Let's go pick up the boys." she said brightly.

~ The boys didn't appear to have missed Norma and Alex in the slightest. Their surrogate grandparents were of the philosophy that it was best to release children into the wild and if they survived, they had proven their evolutionary worth.

The sun had been out even with a chill in the air, and there was lots of woods to explore with Graceland by their side.

Tess would pack them a good size lunch in a backpack and wouldn't see them from sun up till sun down. Not worrying about them unless it started to rain very hard. Where the boys went and what they did, no one knew, but Tess reported they slept well and ate as though starving at dinner, which was always a good sign.

Norman and Dylan and taken on the unkempt, ragged appearance of Peter Pan's Lost Boys when Norma saw them. Their pants ankle deep in dried mud and Norman's neatly combed hair stick out in every direction.

He and Dylan had been collecting eggs and looked as if they might run away now that civilization was calling them back.

"Boys!" Norma hissed. "You get in the truck! You're both getting a bath tonight!"

Dylan and Norman exchanged looks as if communicating they might make a break for it when Alex intervened.

"Boys, come on. Your mother will make us a nice dinner. Turkey pot-pie." he promised trying to coax the two feral little boys back into gentrification.

~ An hour and a half of shouting, crying and tantrums later, Norman and Dylan were scrubbed raw and to Norma's satisfaction.

"I've missed your cooking." Alex admitted breathing in the inviting aroma of cream broth and vegetables with turkey meat. A meal that would put the boys to sleep quickly so the adults could have a little fun tonight. It had been hard to get personal with her while staying at the Harman's house. That place had felt a little creepy. As though their were eyes everywhere.

Now that they were back home, a place where everything was safe and smelled of cooking and clean things, Alex felt an arousal in him perk up again.

"What did you think of the house?" he asked Norma as she checked behind her youngest son's ears for dirt.

"I think it's coming along fine." she admitted.

"Why don't you like Bill?" he asked.

"I just don't." she said and her tone made it clear that was the end of the conversation.

Dylan looked at Alex in confusion by Romero was just as lost as the little boy was.

"Well, we need to get the house finished, Norma." Alex started to say.

"Without him." she snapped and Alex was taken aback by the icy way her eyes flashed at him. He'd hardly ever seen her truly angry and it was something he didn't like. The ice queen stare she had was so beautiful, yet so terrifying.

"Okay." Alex said calmly. "I'll tell Chick to find someone else."

Norma said nothing and ate her dinner in silence.

~ "You know, I'm sure Violet is going to be fine." Alex said when Norma emerged from the hallway after tucking the boys in and finishing her own shower. She was wearing a very matronly nightgown that looked like it belonged to a grandmother and not a woman as young as she was.

"I know." Norma sighed climbing into bed and turning onto her side facing away from him.

Alex felt disappointment stab at him slightly. The nightgown and body language were indication enough that she wasn't in the mood tonight. He wasn't sure what had happened and she gave him very few clues.

"Tess and Tom took good care of the boys. That's just their parenting style. They like free range kids." Alex offered smiling at his own joke

"I know. Norman and Dylan had fun." she said humorlessly.

"Norma, what happened?" he asked. He'd grown tired of the enigma that was the ice queen that evening and longed for the woman he loved back.

She rolled on her back and he saw the sadness on her face.

"I just…" she trailed off. "Um… I guess it's just jet lag." she said at last.

"Maybe you'll feel better after we've slept in our own bed." he offered. "Eaten our own food to. Vivian Harman can't cook at all."

He was glad to see the smile bloom on her face. Glad that it reached her eyes proving that it was real and not one of her fake smiles.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought so." she grinned.

"No, you're not the only one who thought so." Alex said pulling on her hip to roll her body closer to him. His feet rubbed over hers and he loved the way she smiled at him.

"She had cooking classes and she didn't know to heat up taco shells?" Norma scoffed.

"I've never appreciated your cooking more than I did tonight." Alex said honestly.

"Aww." Norma teased pretending to feel sorry for him. "Without me you'd still be eating TV dinners."

"Without you, I'd be miserable." he corrected.

Norma smile faltered and she kissed him gently on the lips.

"I'd be miserable without you to." she whispered.

Alex saw his chance and didn't waste it. His heart would always long for Norma and his body would always have a need for her.

With ease, he rolled on top of her and gently pinned her down. Ensuring his body weight didn't crush her and that she responded favorably to him. Encouragement coming when her well toned legs rose up around his hips and started to cradle him.

"I love you so much." she whimpered softly when he pulled at the buttons that held the collar of her night gown closed, exposing her bear breasts.

"I love you to." he assured her. "I always will."

 **I got a fan request for hot sexy NORMARO ONLY action and there will be. But first, more story.**


	74. Chapter 74

74.

~ Norma arrived at Redeeming Rose early the next morning. She wasn't sure why. Choir practice wasn't for a few hours, but she wasn't in the mood to go home yet. With Dylan at school and Norman safely in the church's daycare, Norma found she had a few hours to herself to think. A rare gift for her that she appreciated.

She sat alone in her little balcony and organized her music sheets. A task that took no time at all before the light from a rare sunny day made the stain glass windows burst into life.

She quickly folded up her workbook and decided to talk a walk around the nicely tended church grounds to clear her head. She couldn't stop thinking about her brother and wishing that she'd never laid eyes on him yesterday.

How long had he been at the farm house? What was he really doing there? Should she tell Alex about this?

No, she couldn't bring herself to bring up Caleb again to Alex. It had been so unbearable the first time. So shameful and Alex might have a harder time getting past it if she brought it up again. Besides, if Alex knew Caleb was here working on his family home, he might kill him and this time, he might not get away with it.

It was best if Caleb just left and never came back.

Except, what if Caleb didn't leave? What if he chose to stay? He knew about Dylan, even knew his name. What if he'd put it together who Dylan really was?

Norma was following these dark thoughts and nothing else when the footpath along the old church took her into the historic cemetery.

The property was so well maintained with such greenery and rose bushes that she hardly noticed the gray headstones and intricate cross markers with dates. The place was designed more like a park with welcoming benches and even visitors were seated not far away enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.

She looked around her, honestly perplexed to see grave markers of the dead among the living flowers and trees. It was oddly beautiful, the living mixed with the dead. The footpath was a nicely planned out cobblestone road now and all the trees were old and spoke of stability and comfort.

Norma let out a laugh when she saw the high obelisk with the name 'Lawson' on it. It marked off a large portion of the space complete with two mausoleum. When Norma looked closer, she clearly saw the more ornate mausoleum was the final resting place of Sybil's parents. That her brother was already laid to rest here after dying in the 40's as well as a sister who shared Sybil's birthdate but died as an infant.

Norma felt a real sadness for the old dragon, but was a least happy to see she would be with her family someday. Sybil's own name, with her date of birth impossible for Norma to believe, was there. All that was missing was her date of death. The family crypt waiting eagerly to be filled so it could be sealed off forever and they could be together again.

Norma backed away from the stately Lawson family plots and continued on her walk. She paid little attention to the stones until she saw one that was pure as snow and gleamed in the sunlight. It stood out in the sea of gray stones and green grass.

She decided to investigate and saw the name ROMERO glaring back at her. The black lettering cut in sharp angles that looked harsh in the whiteness of the stone.

She stepped cautiously back as if intruding and realized this was Alex's mother's grave. Norma noticed there was nothing about her being a wife or mother. Just her name and the year she was born and the year she died. No mention or connection to Alex or Sheriff Marcus Romero.

She thought that was odd. She looked around and saw that Theresa was buried with the rest of Alex's family. Evelyn Romeo was laid to rest here. Her headstone was to be shared with Simon when his time came. The two lovers refusing to be separated in the next life and Simon making it clear to all that Evie was his one true love. So much so their wedding date was proudly craved in stone. Yet Alex's father seem to have no space prepared here. Perhaps he'd wanted to be cremated. A lot of people did these days. Still, to leave his wife all alone in the ground for eternity made Norma shutter. She hated the idea of being buried forever without Alex next to her.

' _What a silly idea_.' she scolded herself. ' _When you're dead you won't care who's next to_ _you or not!_ '

Still, she did care. She didn't want to be buried alone. She wanted to be laid to rest like Sybil planned to be. Not as grandly, but laid to rest with family.

Norma glanced over at Alex's other relatives but they were all distant and long dead now. She was about to wander further down the path to see if she recognized any other names when she spotted a very familiar person not far from where Theresa Romero slept.

Ed Warren looked different in the sunlight. Not like her idea of a button down pastor, but more in line with a young man barely out of college.

He was kneeling over a small headstone to place a little toy there and brushing off the accumulating dirt and fungus that would grow on the memorials if they not looked after.

Norma strained her ears and could hear Ed talking, even though there was no one nearby. She knew it was rude, that this was his personal time, but she wanted to know what he was saying.

"I haven't been by in a week. It's been really busy here." he said softly. "Norma is coming back today. I really think you'd like her. She has a son who's a little younger than you but he's got a lot in common with you. I think you two would have gotten along. You're both very neat. She's a good mother to him to. Very protective. Gives him his space. Doesn't let anyone bully him. He's really quite and kind. Just like you were. He reminds me a lot of you actually."

Norma stopped and listened intently. Ed was talking about her? Talking to a gravestone like that person could respond? She din't believe in such things and was a little embarrassed to be around someone that did.

"Norma is very nice to." Ed went on. "She's… well of course she's seeing someone and of course it's already serious." he scoffed as if it were a joke. "I don't know. Seems a little rushed to me, but I get it. I'd want to rush into marrying her to. She's the kind of girl you need to marry right away."

Norma involuntarily took a step forward and made a noise. Ed turned and saw her and his eyes were wide with surprise, but he wasn't outraged or angry.

"I'm sorry." Norma said feeling the seriousness of her intrusion. "I didn't realize you…. I should go."

"No, Norma, I didn't know you were here so soon. I'm glad." Ed said with a nice smile.

He waved a hand at the small headstone and stepped aside to show the name.

Norma let out a sigh.

"I was just talking to my brother." he explained when she read the name.

 _Cody Warren_

 _1968-1978_

 _In God's Care_

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have intruded." Norma said. She felt embarrassed when she saw the array of little plastic and metal toys Ed had brought for his brother over time. Most of them bleached out by the sun now, but clearly showing the grief that still lingered in him. That need to still show he cared for the brother he lost so long ago.

"Don't be sorry." Ed said. "I've been coming here alone for so long, it's healthier to have some company. Don't you think?"

"I was just out walking. Saw Sybil's family plot and…" she waved back at Theresa's snow white headstone. "Alex's family."

"Yeah." Ed said understandingly. "Alex picked that out from someplace I've never heard of. Had it delivered special. Didn't want any of the regular headstones. Not for his mother."

"Why isn't there an epitaph?" Norma asked bluntly. "I mean, it's just her name and the years. Not even her birthdates." She knew she could ask Ed Warren anything and he would be truthful.

Ed let out a deep breath and they looked at Cody's headstone.

"Grief takes on many forms, Norma." he said slowly. "My brother would have been thirty this year if he had lived. Sometimes, I'm so angry at him for leaving me. Even now I'd give anything to have that rotten little kid back. We'd play monopoly together."

Norma laughed at the idea of a grown man playing a board game with his older brother who was still a child.

"I'd let him win to." Ed said with a smiled. His face went serious when he glanced back at Theresa's headstone. "I think Alex just needed it to be done. Needed to not feel anything for a while. Maybe and epitaph would have been too painful. He was very closed off after she died and maybe he felt it was too revealing."

Norma sighed and pulled her coat on more securely when a cold wind hit them.

"How was you trip?" Ed asked changing the subject.

"Good." Norma said. "We got to meet my sister."

"I didn't know you had a sister." Ed said.

"Neither did I until a few months ago." Norma said with a smile.

"What's she like?"

"Her name is Violet and she like alligators, decorating dollhouses and making jewelry."

"Unique hobbies." Ed made an amused face.

"Well, she's seven so…" Norma teased with a smile.

"Oh." Ed shrugged. "Why didn't you know about her till recently?"

His voice was gentle and there was no judgement.

"I didn't grow up in a very good home either." Norma admitted sadly. "We um… we traveled a lot. We never really had a stable home life. We'd life in abandoned houses. Sometimes without running water or electricity. My parents thought it was okay, so we never knew any better till we were older."

Ed waited a few seconds before asking.

"Who's we, Norma?"

"My brother Caleb and I." she said weakly. "You know… when we were really little, he looked after me. We… um… my parents would leave us alone a lot. My dad, our dad, was really violent. My mother, she wasn't right. She…"

Norma felt her jaw start to shake slightly and she looked away.

"Norma?"

Ed's hand, firm and strong was on the small of her back.

"Norma, you can talk to me about anything." he said.

"My brother was really great until I was about thirteen." she spat angrily. "He was great to me till one day, he wasn't. He became my worst nightmare."

She refused to look at Ed Warren and stared at Cody's innocent headstone with tears filling her eyes.

"He… um… he wouldn't stop. He was really horrible to me. He did the kind of things to me that made a young girl afraid to tell anyone. As soon as I could, I left home and never went back." she said angrily. "That's why I didn't know I had a sister. I didn't know I had a sister till Alex found out about her through some detective looking for relatives. She'd been adopted by this family in Florida and they wanted to meet me. I didn't tell them about Caleb. Didn't tell them anything. The only people who even know are you and Alex and I want to keep it that way."

She looked at Ed who seemed saddened by what she said.

"What's said between us, Norma is always confidential." he said. "Even the law recognizes that."

She nodded and bitterly brushed a tear away.

"Caleb is here in town." she said.

"What?" Ed gasped.

"Yeah. He… he found out I live here and that Alex and I are together. He's working on the farm house and everything with Chick. Alex doesn't know. Caleb acts like he's done nothing wrong. He acts like he's looking after me. I just want him to leave and I don't think he will." she looked at Ed as if lost. "Alex will kill him if he finds out I know he will.

Ed looked as if the wind had been knocked out of him.

"I think he will to." he admitted. "Alex has always followed his own moral code."

"I don't hate Caleb enough to want him hurt." Norma said. "It's why I didn't tell Alex."

"Maybe he wants to make amends." Ed offered. "This is his way of apologizing for the past."

"No. I don't want him anywhere near me or Dylan." Norma said.

"What about Norman?" Ed asked.

"What?"

"You don't want Caleb anywhere near you or Dylan. What about Norman?" Ed asked leaning in closer to her.

Norma pulled away but Ed wouldn't let her.

"Norma, is Caleb-" Ed started to ask.

"Let go." Norma whispered.  
"It's not your fault." Ed said in a low voice.

"He's not. I have to go." Norma said feeling the panic rush over her and her face burn hot.

Ed's hands became suddenly very strong and his arm wrapped around her waist as if he could protect her from anything.

"Norma, it's okay. What happened wasn't your fault." he said.

"Let go." she warned.

"I think we should talk to Alex together." Ed said calmly. His arms still holding her close to him so she couldn't flee. Norma didn't realize just how firm Ed's body was. Pushing against his chest was like pushing against a brick wall.

"No." she said. "No, that'll only make it worse."

"Let me help you." Ed said in a whisper.

"Just let me go." she pleaded. "It's not what you think it is. Dylan… he isn't."

She trembled slightly as she felt his eyes rake over every inch of her face. Watched him lean in to kiss her and hesitate for a moment before loosening his grip enough so that she could free herself.

"I'm sorry he said before she slipped away from him.

~ "You're home early." Alex commented when Norma pulled into the driveway that evening. Alex and Dylan were playing catch with a hardball and not a softball like he'd promised they would.

Romero looking a little guilty but Norma pretended she hadn't noticed.

"I wasn't feeling well, so we cut choir practice early." Norma explained.

Alex suddenly gave her his full attention and missed catching the ball Dylan threw at him completely. The hardball rolling under the truck and was promptly fetched by Graceland who hated being left out of the game.

"You aren't feeling well?" he asked. His gaze automatically going to her abdomen.

Norma rolled her eyes and helped Norman down from the truck. Her youngest running to his brother to join in the fun.

"It's not that, Alex." she said with an annoyed look.

"Oh." he said with mild disappointment. "Okay."

"I think it must have been Vivian Harman's cooking after all." she told him pulling the hard ball from Graceland's mouth and shooting Alex a knowing look, complete with raised eyebrow.

Alex grinned like a teenage boy who'd been caught staying out all night.

"We've got to build up calluses." he smiled. "Little league tryouts in the spring."

She rolled her eyes.

"Did you order dinner yet?" she asked.

"Not yet, but I will." he said. "I was thinking of taking the boys to Peggy's Burger Joint."

"No, that place is gross. You'll get food poisoning." Norma scolded. "I'll fix you something."

"Why don't you go lie down?" Alex suggested with his devilish smile. "You don't know for sure it was Vivian's cooking. It still might be the other thing." he said teasingly.

Norma turned and gave him a dirty look but couldn't stop the smile that was spreading on her face.

 **Wanted to post this chapter tonight because I'll probably have to study all day tomorrow. That and I wanted to torment everyone with how dreamy Ed is being to Norma.**


	75. Chapter 75

75.

~ Alex had put the idea in her mind and suddenly Norma felt her feet were swollen, her breasts tender and her body fatigued.

' _I'm not pregnant_.' she thought stubbornly climbing into bed. She'd fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow and when she woke up it was already dark outside and Alex was gently tugging at her foot.

"What time is it?" she murmured groggily. She'd slept so hard she hadn't even dreamed and her body still felt sore from the exhaustion of it.

"It's almost nine." Alex whispered sitting at the foot of their bed and taking one of her feet in his hands. He started to gently rub the arc of her foot and Norma let out a deep sigh of pleasure at the contact.

"Did you feed the boys?" she asked enjoying his large hands moving over her foot with gentle ease.

"Fed them some leftovers." Alex said.  
"You cooked?" Norma gasped in surprised.

"Operated the microwave and everything." he said proudly.

She smiled because she liked what he was doing to her feet just now and didn't want him to stop.

"Did they get their baths?" she asked after a while.

"Bathed and in bed already." he promised. "Told them you weren't feeling well."

"I'm not pregnant, Alex." she told him bluntly.

"You sure?" his voice was slightly hopeful.

"I'm sure. I'm just tired. We've been running around for what feels like forever. Flying across country and then at the farm house yesterday."

"What happened yesterday?" Alex asked. "At the house."

"Nothing."

"It wasn't nothing." he said smoothly.

Norma recognized that trusting 'cop talk' voice he sometimes used when he wanted a suspect to confide in him. That voice he used when he wanted someone to believe they were all friends here and he could trust him.

She pressed her lips together and refused to speak.

"I mean, you wandered off and when you came back you were… pretty upset." Alex pointed out when it was clear she wasn't going to say anything.

"You know you might be right." Norma said at last. "I might be pregnant. So maybe we shouldn't do anything to upset me. It's bad for the baby."

She pulled her feet away from him and slowly got out of bed to undress. She'd been so tired she'd taken a nap in her day clothes. Now she felt worn out and wrinkled just like her dress was. She carefully stripped it off and pulled on her blue robe.

"I'm going to go take a quick shower." she said without looking back.

"I'm going to fire Bill tomorrow." Alex said.

She turned to look at him in surprise and he shrugged.

"I'm sure the man won't happy and neither will Chick. I'll do it because you want me to, but I think I deserve an explanation why you want him gone. Bill does good work and without him, it's going to slow down the move in date. Maybe even cost more."

Norma felt her breathing pick up and she felt slightly dizzy.

"Thank you." she said at last and left the room.

~ Norma took her time getting back to bed. She hoped Alex was asleep when she finally returned with freshly washed hair and smelling like ivory soap, but he was still awake and waiting for her.

"Was about to send a search party for you." he commented when she emerged shyly into their bedroom.

"You didn't have to wait up for me." Norma whispered. She'd checked on the boys and found they were sleeping peacefully. That Alex had even cleaned the kitchen and done a load of laundry while she napped.

"I wanted to." He assured her. "We've booth been so busy lately. Feels like we never get a chance to be alone together.

Norma let out a sigh and sank into her side of the bed.

"I know." she said. "I know, I soon as things settle down-"

"Things aren't going to settle down anytime soon, Norma." Alex reminded her. "We're going to be moving into the house in a few months. We're both working non stop and the boys need a lot of attention. Especially Norman right now. Things aren't slowing down anytime soon which is why we need to communicate better."

"We do communicate." Norma insisted. "We talk all the time."

"Yeah about what we want for dinner and who's picking the kids up. You still won't tell me what the problem with Bill is." Alex said with a furrowed brow. "Did he make a pass at you or something?"

"He- He just gives me the creeps and I don't want him there." Norma said.

"Norma, you're hardly at the farm house, you'd never see him. To be fair Chick is a lot more eccentric than Bill is." Alex said. "The man wears a woman's kimono a listens to Fleetwood Mac."

Norma wanted to smile but couldn't.

"We need to finish the house." he said. "Soon it's going to start snowing and they can't do a lot of work when the ground freezes over."

"Well, then don't fire him then." Norma said hotly as she turned off the lamp on her bedside table. She pulled the covers over her body and rolled away from Alex. Angry that he wanted to talk at her and not really listen.

"Norma?" Alex said gently.

"Goodnight."

She felt him move closer to her, his hand caressing her shoulder and his lips kissing the nape of her neck.

"I love you. Very much." he whispered in the darkness.

"I know." she said defeatedly. She allowed him to pull her body close him. To spoon against her so that his hands could fit neatly over her breasts and wander over her abdomen if he liked. She felt that comfort wash over her like relief when he nuzzled her ear. A reminder that she'd never felt loved like this before and it made her heart ache with regret for snapping at him.

"I'm sorry." she whispered.

"It's okay." he said understandingly. "It might just be hormonal."

Norma rolled her eyes and held back a sob unsuccessfully. He still thought her sudden change in mood, her depression, fits of anger, were early symptoms of pregnancy. She couldn't bare to shatter his illusion of happiness with something as tainted as Caleb returning to her life.

~ "There you are." Ed Warren said brightly Sunday morning when Norma showed up with the boys in tow. As usual, Norma arrived early with the boys and Ed usually not long after.

"Here I am." Norma said with a shrug.  
"Can I have a donut?" Dylan asked looking greedily at the newly minted box of three dozen donuts the pastor always picked up for the congregation every Sunday before service.

"First pick of the day, young man." Ed said handing the keys of the church to Norma who unlocked the building while the men went to work taking care of important things like sugar fixes and making coffee.

"Norma, you don't want one?" Ed asked. "They're still warm."

"Afraid not." Norma laughed. She'd woken up with no appetite at all that morning. Just annoyance that Alex had put the idea of morning sickness into her head. Something that she couldn't dislodge now that it was there. Eventually some other idea would side track her and she'd forget all about these phantom symptoms and feel normal again.

"You don't have to watch your figure you know." Ed said while the boys ate their sugary breakfast in the rec room with napkins neatly placed on the table so they wouldn't make a mess.

They were their mother's sons and she was a little proud she didn't have to tell them to behave and to pick up after themselves. Especially Norman. If wanting to be neat and clean was a disorder, she had it to. There was nothing at all wrong with it either. Good people were always neat and clean.

She'd been watching the boys, ensuring they were behaving and had almost missed Ed's comment. Almost.

"Oh, I've never had to watch my figure." she admitted honestly. "I've always been skinny. Especially when I was little."

"I was a small skinny kid to." Ed sighed and looked a little perplexed. "Then for some reason in high school, I hit this weird growth spurt and it was like something from The Incredible Hulk."

Norma smiled as they went and turned on all the lights one by one.

"Watch, I'll probably gain two hundred pounds with a little pot belly soon." he said.

"Good thing you became a pastor." she said. "You can hide it behind the robes."

Ed smiled from ear to ear as they walked back town the aisle together.

"That's true." he admitted. "Maybe I should just join a gym. Might be better for me."

"Maybe not bring donuts to church." Norma suggested.

"The donuts and coffee help bribe some of our more stubborn flock into coming in." Ed said.

"Oh." Norma said properly chastised.

"Have you talked to Alex yet? About Caleb?" Ed said confidentially once they reached the end of the aisle.

"I tired." she sighed. "Maybe Caleb will leave on his own. I'd rather just not have to deal with it. You know I don't go to the farm that often and Caleb doesn't know where I live. Doesn't know where I work."

"It's a small town, Norma." Ed insisted.

Norma felt the discomfort seep into the conversation and knew Ed sensed it to.

"It's your choice. If I were Alex, I would want know. I would want to know that someone who hurt the woman I cared about was so close. I'd want that person gone." Ed said.

"I don't want to make trouble." Norma said.

"Caleb seems like he's the one who came looking for trouble." Ed told her.

"Are you a pastor or Batman?" she teased.

Ed looked like she'd given him a compliment.

"You're not Batman." she told him with a smile.

"If I started going to the gym enough I could be Batman." he said.

"You're not rich enough to be Batman." she told him.

"Batman's only superpower is that he's rich." Ed pointed out.

"And you're not Batman." she laughed.

"Who's Batman?" Dylan asked coming out of the Rec room as soon as the first church employees started to arrive.

"I am." Ed said in a deep gravely voice. "I'm Batman."

"No, he's not." Norma laughed. "Boys, go to the play room or you can sit up in the balcony with me."

The boys opened for the play room that would quickly fill up and Ed had to wave Norma goodbye until noon.

~ "You know, why don't you and the boys join me for lunch?" Ed asked one the last of the congregation had left and Norma finally felt a little hungry. Sunday's were always a long day for her. One that started out early and seemed to repeat itself for all three services. It was still enjoyable work though and she had to admit that she needed the extra income and free daycare.

"Oh." Norma said feeling embarrassed when Dylan and Norman raced down the aisle after the other church kids who's parents were calling them to come home.

"Nothing fancy." Ed promised awkwardly. "I like to go to the cafe down the street."

Norma looked around the church to make sure they weren't overheard.

"Umm… Alex is expecting us." she said.

"Oh." he nodded.

"Ed." Norma said feeling her face grow warm. "Um, listen, Alex and I are… we're together. We're going to be together."

"I know." Ed said quickly forcing a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"We're meant to be together." Norma said in a soft voice. "I've known that since the night I met him."

"Then why haven't you told him about Caleb?" Ed asked.

Norma leaned away from him.

"I will tell him when the time is right." she said. "If the time is right."

Ed and Norma grew silent as Dylan and Norman raced by them. The boys had grown bored and were eager to play outside.

"I need to go." Norma said shrugging on her purse. "I'll see you later."

"Okay." Ed said without looking at her.

~ Ed Warren found Norma's brother in same dive bar he'd been to just after Sybil's Halloween party. Looking back, he wasn't sure how he didn't see the resemblance before.

Caleb looked like his sister only bigger and without the graceful elegance that defined Norma Bates. He seemed much more slow witted to. Like he didn't understand social cues. Like when the waitress brought him a drink, it didn't mean she wanted to talk to him of be his friend. Something Caleb didn't understand right away.

It was a rare request for the bar to serve a blended red to a customer, but the bartender brought it for Ed and accepted payment meaning there wouldn't be a tab.

"I remember you." Ed said moving closer to where Caleb was sitting at the edge of the bar. Caleb was clearly a few beers in and he looked a little confused as Ed approached him.

"Hey." the beefy blond haired man said.

"Bill right?" Ed said affecting a false air of friendship.

"Oh, um, yeah. I'm Bill." Caleb told him.

"Yeah we talked before." Ed said.

"I remember." Caleb nodded.

"Do you usually go by Bill or Caleb?" Ed said cooly.

Caleb looked a little confused and glanced back at Ed for help deciding.

"I thought you'd be gone by now." Ed offered. "I mean, after your sister told you to leave and all."

"I don't know what-"

"Don't lie to me." Ed said coldly.

He imagined Caleb was his father just now. That Caleb was the very embodiment of evil. A force capable of hurting innocence and breaking the spirit of someone he love. Norma… Cody. Two people he cared for and needed his protection. One he wouldn't lose again.

"Norma Bates told you to leave and you're still here." Ed Warren said. "Which isn't going to be good for you."

"Look, I ain't…I'm- I'm not who you think I am." Caleb stuttered.

"Caleb Calhoun born 1970. Brother to Norma Louis Calhoun. Recently released from a Michigan State prison where you skipped parole." Ed said.

Caleb looked back at Ed with large eyes.

"Amazing what you can find out online these days. I'm sure the Sheriff Wilson or Deputy Romero would love to bring you in. So, I think it was more than fair for your sister to give you a warning to leave." Ed said.

"It's not what you think." Caleb said darkly.

"I don't care." Ed said. "You need to leave town tonight."

~ Norma enjoyed watching Alex teaching Dylan to play baseball. Norman had flat out refused to play ball with them, but Alex always asked him each time. Instead, her youngest was happy building things with a new set of lego blocks Alex had bought for him while in Florida.

Norman was very proud of the fact that the legos were for older kids and that he could build the things in the pictures.

Dylan was intent on becoming a better pitcher and Alex was training him using an old tire swing with Graceland acting as their ball dog. The police dog gathering the thrown balls whether Dylan lobbed them through the tire hole or not.

Norma watched and listened to Alex's encouragement about not over extending his pitch and to release at the right time. She watched Norman drowning out all the noise around him and focus on building a little helicopter.

She was about to start dinner when the phone rang and she jumped at the invasion.

' _Stupid telemarketer._ ' she thought. ' _Call someone who has money._ '

"Hello?" she said curtly into her phone while she pulled down a pan from the cabinet and a box of dry pasta.

"Norma Louise?" Caleb's voice echoed across the line.

Norma's stomach churned slightly and she couldn't focus for a moment.

"How did you get this number?" she demanded.

"You- you need to come to that Romero guy's farm. You need to bring Dylan and you need to pack a bag for the two of you. We're leaving. Don't tell your boyfriend either. I don't want to have to hurt your other boyfriend." Caleb said.

"What?" Norma breathed.

"Ed." Caleb said. "He says his name is Ed and I know how he looks at you. Just pack a bag for you and Dylan and come alone. We're going to be a family again, Norma Louise."

"Ed isn't with you." Norma challenged. Her heart racing as she watched Alex demonstrate how to properly swing a bat.

There was the sound of the phone being muffled and Caleb in the background saying:

"It's Norma, say something to her."

"Norma, don't come. Just hang up and call the police." Ed Warren said quickly.

Immediately Caleb was back on the line.

"Norma Louise you do that, if I see the cops or that Romero guy come near here, I'll kill him." Caleb barked.

"I believe you." Norma said in a detached and dead voice.

She was under the ice now. Under the ice and Caleb was holding her there. Drowning her.

"Bring Dylan here. Bring my son to me." Caleb ordered. "You're coming with us. We're leaving and never coming back."

"Okay." Norma said numbly watching Alex play with her sons.


	76. Chapter 76

76.

~ It surprised Norma how calm she remained. Afterwards, when the body had been neatly removed, and she was still in a state of mild shock, she remembered how calm she'd been right after she hung up the phone.

She'd simply turned around and gone strait to her bedroom closet. Searching the top shelf where the boys couldn't reach. It was where Alex kept his spare side arm and extra bullets in a hard shell case with a combination lock to it.

That was her Alex. He wasn't the type of man to store a deadly weapon in a shoebox with bullets rattling loosely around. Not Alex Romero. Not in a thousand lifetimes. A gun had its' own custom case with foam lining and each bullet was accounted for. Even the registration, current and notarized by the county, was neatly taped on the inside of the case.

Alex Romero would leave his dirty socks and jeans on the floor, but he was strangely neat about how he stored weapons.

The combination was her birthday and he kept it loaded in case of an emergency. As a cop, there was always the off chance some drunken lowlife would hold a grudge over a traffic stop or a drug bust and come after his family.

It had scared Norma at first, but nothing like that had ever happened and Tess had assured her such instances were few and very far between.

'You can always smell them when they start to brew.' she had said. 'When the big dogs go down, all the packs start to scatter and look for someone to blame.'

As far as Norma knew, things in town were peaceful and were going to stay that way.

She inspected the gun that Alex said was very safe for home protection. He'd shown her how to load it and wanted to take her to the farm so she could practice shooting. Norma had kept putting it off. Insisting she didn't like guns. She hated the fact that the boys always saw Alex arriving home still wearing his department issued sidearm. She worried that one day soon Dylan would get it into his head to play cop with that gun. Didn't he idolize Alex in everything he did? Or worse, Norman in his innocence and curiosity, might wonder what this gun was all about and accidentally shoot himself?

Not that Alex had ever been negligent with his sidearm, or any gun for that matter around the boys. It always went strait into the hall closet where he'd installed a small gun safe that only he had a key to.

Alex assured her that Dylan and Norman both would be taught about gun safety when he felt they were ready.

Now she looked at the 38 special in its' neat little case with its' official registration and wished she had taken Alex up on his offer to learn to shoot. Caleb would almost certainly be armed and she'd never even fired a weapon before.

She pushed those negative thoughts aside and didn't look out the large window at the boys and Alex. They were playing in the backyard when she crossed the kitchen to the garage. She made sure to leave before Alex could notice in time to stope her.

He wouldn't be able to follow her. Not with the boys in tow or this late in the evening. For all he knew she was going to the grocery store or pharmacy. That she'd be home any second.

Norma tried not to cry as she glanced at her rearview mirror and saw Alex hadn't noticed her leaving at all. That he was still tossing a ball to Dylan and her oldest was still trying to swing and hit it with the bat.

~ Ed Warren defiantly had his bell rung that evening in the bar. He thought at first Caleb hadn't understood what he was saying. That when he'd gotten up to leave, paying Caleb's tab as he did so, that would be the end of it. Instead, as soon as he got to the parking lot and fished out the keys to his economy car, he felt the pressure of an intense blow to the head.

The rest was all blackness and stars.

When he woke up, he was in the back of a van and there was blood down his shirt.

"What?" Ed groaned slowly realizing his hands were bound behind his back and his feet were secured together with duct tape. "What's happening?"

"Yeah. You should have just minded your own business." Caleb said parking the van and getting out of the driver's side door.

It was like something out of every cliche horror movie. A monster, a hulking killer come to life. This was the part of the movie where a know it all audience member shouts, out ' _told ya so_ ' and Ed Warren could only agree that this predicament was totally avoidable.

Like Norma, Ed felt a calmness come over him. He wasn't afraid at all. All his years of faith and schooling in theology had taught him that he'd be with his brother Cody again soon. If indeed this man meant to kill him, to bury his body where no one would find him. His only regret was never being with Norma Bates. Of finding the one woman he could love, and never loving her.

It was odd that his thoughts would turn to her. To wish that she was here with him when he was thankful she was far away from this cruel animal. Yet, Ed wished Norma was there. Wished she was there to comfort him with her smile and kind words. Whenever he would address the congregation he would often look up at her little balcony and see her there. See the sunlight shinning on her blond hair. She would catch him noticing her and smile in encouragement and that somehow would get him through the week.

He needed her so much now. Now when the monsters was closing in and there were no angels in sight.

Caleb was a large man who disguised his strength under layers of shirts and a heavy coat.

He easily pulled Ed out of the van and wasn't gentle dragging him across a large driveway that was lined with mature trees.

"Where are we?" Ed demanded.

Ed had never been to this place before but knew it was an old farm house in the middle of nowhere. It was being worked on, and the smell of sawdust and lumber brought back memories of when he helped build school houses for the poor in third world countries right after high school.

"Caleb, don't do this. You need to stop." Ed warned.

"We have to call Norma." Caleb said. "She'll come if she knows you're in danger."

Ed tired to get away when Caleb opened the front door but the heftier man pulled him across the floor like a sack of potatoes.

The house had recently been painted. The smell of it still lingered in the air, although it wasn't in this room yet. In this room, all the furniture was draped in plastic and placed in the center of the living room. The floors having been neatly sanded, stained, polished and were also covered in heavy plastic so they wouldn't be ruined by the painters. For now, the walls here were bare white and utilitarian in appearance.

Ed looked around for any clues as to where they were. Whoever lived here, it wasn't Caleb. This house belonged to a prosperous family. All this land surrounding the house? Isolating them? Not to mention the large kitchen with real redwood cabinets and granite countertops. If they were new they must have cost a fortune, but by the look of them, they might have been authentic to the house. Ed even thought he spotted a good-sized conservatory built onto the side of kitchen. A real one, not something you assembled over a weekend from a hardware store.

"My sister was gonna have a nice place with that Romero guy." Caleb said noticing that Ed was looking around at the house. His eyes finally resting on the intricately carved wooden banister that lead upstairs.

"Chick even made that special for them." Caleb said pointing the banister. "Said the woods delivered it just for them. All one piece."

The beefy man scoffed.  
"I-I can't let her marry that Romero guy. He's no good." Caleb said shaking his head.

"Why not?" Ed asked curiously.

He noticed a box of framed pictures that used to hang on the wall. He recognized a young Theresa Romero right away. Her long black hair and bright shinning smile. She was holding her small son Alex tightly in her arms. Alex couldn't have been any older than Norman was in that picture. This was Alex Romero's house Ed Warren was in. This was the house he planned to move Norma to when he married her. Where he planned to start his own family with her and live happily ever after.

Ed felt slightly sick at the idea Norma could be so happy here. That she could have a good life in this beautiful and cozy home. A life he wouldn't ever be apart of. He wouldn't be the husband that came home to her. There wouldn't be children between them and he would never touch her in the darkness of night and have his passion for her stratified.

"He's just no good." Caleb said. "Neither are you."

The big man glared at Ed but Ed Warren refused to flinch. He felt as if his heart had been broken. Felt as if Norma's comforting presence had some how faded away like smoke.

"If you want to kill me, just do it." he said. "I'm not going to help you hurt your sister. You've hurt her enough already."

"I ain't never hurt her." Caleb said with a wounded look himself. "You're gonna help me."

Caleb pulled out a land line phone in the kitchen and a number that he'd written down on a piece of paper.

Ed could clearly hear a voice pick up on the other line and part of him prayed it would be Romero. Let Deputy Romero come here and shoot this animal in the head. That would be the end of it. Let God sort out the details and Ed would pray for everyone's salvation and forgiveness till the day he died. If God was just and true, Alex wouldn't go to hell for killing Caleb Calhoun.

He could hear Norma's sweet voice answer and felt his hopes deflate along with his fantasy about a life with her.

"Norma Louis?" Caleb asked.

~ "She's not coming." Ed said defiantly.

He almost wished Caleb would just kill him now. The punch the large man delivered hurt terribly and he could feel his eye swelling shut.

"Big man!" Ed laughed over the humiliating pain of being hit. "Yeah."

Ed spat out more blood and kept laughing.

 _'Please let Norma tell Alex what's happening. Let the entire Sheriff's department come down here and take him out once and for all_.' he thought. ' _As long as Norma stays away.'_

"Big man who has to hit a guy with his hands tied behind his back!" Ed chortled.

"You shut up!" Caleb said in a childish tone.

"She's not coming." Ed prodded again. "She's not coming and I don't care if you kill me."

"She's coming and she's bring my son Dylan." Caleb said defensively.

Ed swallowed that bitter pill of truth. At ugly suspicion he'd suspected since Norma first mentioned her brother to him. Of course this monster molested and raped his sister. Norma was still very young. She couldn't have been more than a teenager when Dylan was born. An innocent victim of this predator in her own home.

"You raped your sister." Ed accused sadly. "Your own sister. How could you do that?"

"I didn't rape nobody!" Caleb said. His eyes blazing hotly. "It wasn't like that."

"There's no other word for it." Ed refuted. "Alex and the rest of the Sheriff's department will be here any minute and they will shoot you dead. It won't be the first time he's shot a man either, Caleb."

He thought dryly that now Alex Romero would have effectively have killed the father's of all of Norma's children. He'd worry about that operatic detail later.

Caleb wasn't paying attention to him. Headlights were moving over the windows and flooding the living room.  
"She's here." Caleb said with a little smile. The same smile a child would have if he knew he was going to have a treat.

His brow crinkled as he looked out the window and he peered in the other directions before opening the front door.

"Where's Dylan?" he accused angrily when he faced their new guest on the front porch.

"I didn't bring him." Ed heard Norma's voice bravely argue with his captor.

"I told you to bring him. You were supposed to bring Dylan!" Caleb told her.

Ed felt his spirits lighten when he saw Norma push Caleb aside as if she were much stronger than him.

"Ed?" She cried when their eyes met. Even though one of his eyes was swelling shut, she still looked radiant to him. She was dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt but to Ed, she'd never looked more lovely.

He wanted to smile, but it hurt his face too much.

"Oh, God, Ed!" she cried when he felt her hands lightly touch over his wounded face. "You're hurt."

"You shouldn't have come." Ed whispered. Secretly, a secret he would never admit although there was a smile on his face, he was glad she was there. She was like having sunshine in his world. Sunshine in his dying, hopeless world. She maneuvered closer to him just so he could rest his head on her shoulder.

"What were you trying to do?" she asked close to tears.

"Be Batman." he teased. A smile hurting his face but he didn't care just now. His world felt far less dreary with Norma in it. She looked like she wanted to laugh, but also cry at that situation.

"We have to get you to the hospital." Norma sniffed back a sob when she touched his forehead and Ed winced in pain.

"You're going to come with me and we're getting Dylan." Caleb demanded. His course tone like a schoolyard bully wanting their lunch money. It was as though he didn't like the fact Norma was paying attention to Ed and not to him.

Ed was a little proud of Norma when she turned on her brother and glared at him.

"I will never give you my son." she said coldly.

"He's my son to." Caleb growled. "Don't think I didn't notice. He don't look nothing like that old boyfriend of yours from high school."

Norma looked back and Ed and he saw her face go red with shame.

"It's okay." Ed said in a soft whisper. "It's not your fault. It's not."

"He's not your son." Norma said scathingly to Caleb. Ed noticing her eyes becoming a deeper blue than he'd ever seen them before.

He could feel Norma's fingers slip into his hands and start to tug free the duct tape.

"You know that's not true." Caleb said helplessly. "I know… I know I may have done wrong by you but you can't tell me you didn't want it."

Ed wasn't prepared for that savage scream that followed. The appearance of a gun and the rapid fire of bullets that broke open the quite night sending blood everywhere.


	77. Chapter 77

77.

~ You look up, you look away for one second, and everything you love is gone.

That was how Alex remembered that night.

He'd been teaching Dylan to properly hit. Having to undo all the lessons Shelby had taught the kid last spring so that he'd be ready for little league tryouts. He wouldn't give it to whoever was coaching this year to say Alex Romero's kid couldn't hit. It wouldn't stand. Not when Alex Romero had taken his high school team to state.

Twice.

Dylan tried but the little boy was growing tired and wanted his dinner. Even Norman was growing cranky with his chosen hobby which was unusual for Norman.

Alex had called for Norma inside the house, but quickly realized she wasn't there. The was evidence of dinner being started but the stove was cold.

"Alex, where's mom?" Dylan asked.

"She must have gone to the store." Alex said. It was unusual for Norma to make a last second grocery run without telling him, but anything was possible.

"Why don't you boys get cleaned up?" he asked.

Dylan and Norman seemed suspicious but did as they were told and washed their hands. Alex resisted the urge to call Maggie at the grocery store to see if Norma was there. He didn't want to be the type of guy who checked on her like that. Still, it wasn't like Norma to just leave without telling them where she was going.

The boys washed up and their mother still wasn't home.

"Why don't I fix us something?" Alex offered.

Dylan and Norman exchanged worried looks.

"Guys, come on." Alex said looking over the various options in the fridge. "Okay, I'll cut up some apples and cheese and we'll have that with the tuna sandwiches."

"Can we order a pizza?" Dylan asked.

"No, your mother will kill me." Alex explained simply and went to work cutting up fruit for the boys to eat. He also knew Norma would be livid if the boys didn't have fresh fruit with dinner.

When they boys were fed, half heartedly eating without their mother present, something that seemed to upset Norman more than anyone else, Alex called Tess.

"No, Norma hasn't come by." Tess said.

"Can you come over and watch the boys?" Alex asked. "Something's wrong."

~ "Norma?" Ed said gently. He was smoothing her hair out of her face and still she wouldn't come back to him. It was as if she'd left her body and gone somewhere deep inside where he couldn't reach her.

Ed Warren glanced back at Caleb Calhoun's dead body again. Making sure he was really dead. The big man hadn't gone down easily. Norma's first few shot's hitting him in the arm, leg and hip. Caleb was too stunned to properly react to being shot at first. Certainly not by the petite blond who shook when she aimed a gun at him.

Finally, when Caleb realized his sister meant to kill him, wounded and bleeding to death, he staggered towards her snarling. Ed, having freed himself at last, grabbed the gun from Norma and shot Caleb Calhoun once in the chest, once in the eye and again in the head before the monster finally went down. A massive pool of blood forming around his body spreading so quickly, Ed and Norma had to move away from it as if it was poison.

Thankfully, the think plastic was spread over the floor and collected the blood just as neatly as anyone could want. Not a trace of it leaking onto the hardwood under it.

"Norma?" Ed whimpered softly cradling her head in his hands. Her gaze seemed to stretch beyond him. Beyond this time and place.

"Is dad home yet?" she asked in a fragile child like voice. "Are we safe, Caleb?"

"Baby, come back." Ed pleaded gently running a hand over her neck. "Please?"

Norma blinked and it was like she'd returned to reality.

"No…" she moaned softly.

"It's okay." Ed promised. "We need to get out of here."

She was staring at her brother's bloodied body and resisted Ed pulling her up. Her shoes had come off her feet during the commotion and were still on the floor. Still covered in Caleb's blood. Ed made sure that she didn't step in Caleb's blood. That her bare feet weren't contaminated by it. That she stayed clean.

"Is he dead?" Norma breathed.

"Yes, he's dead." Ed promised as they stepped past the body. Ed half expecting Caleb to reach out and grab them like in a horror movie.

"Oh, God!" Norma sobbed in agony.

"I'm sorry!" Ed apologized when they reached the porch and the safety of the night air. He tried to pull her down the steps to the truck, but she became as unwilling to move as a mule just now. He wanted to get them away from this place. Away from that thing in the living room. Away from what they'd done. A part of him wanted to believe if they ignored it, just looked away and pretend it didn't exist, it would go away. No one would ever know it was them.

Norma shook off his hands and wrapped her arms around her chest protectively.

"I-I never wanted this." she stammered. "I… I loved my brother. I loved him once. He took care of me."

"I know he did." Ed assured her. "That man was not your brother anymore. He changed."

"He saved me from falling through the ice." Norma sobbed. "He…" her beautiful face distorted in agony and her body crumpled into his.  
"I'm sorry." Ed said. "This wasn't your fault. It was self defense. I killed him. Not you."

Ed knew then he would take responsibility for all of it. Norma may have brought the gun, but he would always say he fired all the shots. He didn't want anyone to ever believe she'd killed her brother.

Flashing blue and red lights snapped Ed's attention away from holding Norma in his arms. He hadn't called the police but a police SUV was hurtling down the lonely stretch of country road just the same.

It was just one though, one police vehicle turning rapidly into the drive as if it had made the turn a thousand times before.

"Alex." Norma sniffed in relief and pulled away from him. Her body relaxing at seeing the Sheriff's department emblazoned on the SUV and the lights flashing.

Ed Warren wasn't quite as relived to see Alex Romero alone here.

' _A little late to the party, Alex_.' he wanted to say when Norma stepped away from his arms as though they'd never embraced at all.

Alex was wearing the look he was famous for. That angry, cold and distant stare of distrust that suited him so well in law enforcement. He didn't say a word to Norma or Ed in their disheveled state or comment on the blood on Ed's clothing or the fact his face was beaten and swollen. He looked closer at Norma's tearstained face, all with his hand on the butt of his side arm and eye Ed suspiciously.

When he saw Caleb's dead body in his living room, the blood pooled almost a perfect circle, he stopped. Careful not to disturb the evidence of the crime scene, he stepped around the body before swearing under his breath and looking back at Norma and Ed.

"We need to talk." Alex said to them.

~ "When we got back from Florida." Norma admitted. "That's when I saw him. I confronted him. In the barn."

Ed and Norma were sitting on the front porch and telling Alex everything.

It had always been Alex's gift to determine if someone was lying or not and right now, he could see they were both telling the truth. Both of them were eager to tell the truth. Tell him everything he wanted to know.

"Why didn't you tell me that Bill was Caleb?" Alex asked.

He'd already called into the station and reported that the gunshots his neighbors had heard was just Norma target practicing and she hadn't realized they had neighbors that close. It was how he'd gotten to the farm so quickly. No sooner had Tess arrived to the house to look after the boys than he picked up a call from Clarice on the radio from his elderly neighbors. They were concerned because they knew no one should be living at the Romero's old farm let alone shooting guns off.

No police were going to come in tonight to investigate this. Even if it was self defense. He had no intention of reporting Caleb's death to anyone. Not now, not ever.

Norma shrugged.

"I just wanted him to leave." Norma explained sadly.

"It was my fault to." Ed chimed in helpfully.

Alex glared at him. Always helpful Ed Warren. Just when help wasn't needed or asked for.

"I tried to make Caleb leave town and…" he waved at his forehead "Got this for it. He took me here and called Norma. Told her to come and bring Dylan."

"Why would he want Dylan?" Alex asked pretending to be ignorant. He'd never betray that secret. Till his dying day, he'd always pretend he didn't know the truth.

"Ed knows, Alex." Norma said plainly.

Alex looked at her as though she'd betrayed him.

"You told him about that?" he asked her.

Norma looked as if she was going to explain but bit her lip instead and said nothing.

"Caleb called Dylan his son." Ed specified. "I put it together. What happened. What he did to her."

"What happens now? Why isn't Wilson here yet?" Norma asked.

"Wilson isn't coming." Alex said dryly. "No one is."

"Why not?" Norma asked.

"No one is finding out about this." Alex told them.

"Alex this was self defense. Norma had nothing to do with this. I shot Caleb. I mean look at my face." Ed said passionately.

"Remember what happened after I shot and killed Sam Bates? All the gossip? Who did that hurt?" Alex reminded him.

Ed looked at Norma who's face fell slightly.

"Right." Alex nodded. "Caleb is a transient. He's a violent criminal who is in violation of his parole and in the wind. No one is going to miss him if he was to disappear. Which is exactly what he's going to do."

~ "Son of a gun is heavy." Ed groaned.

"No need to almost swear, Pastor." Alex said coldly as the two men loaded Caleb's body into the back of the truck. The plastic wrap from the painters was strong enough to wrap the body up so it wouldn't bleed again when they were moving it. Not a drop of blood was leaked onto the floor as they moved the body out.

Norma quickly reapplying plastic to the floor and checking for any stray blood splatter.

"What about his van?" Ed asked touching the new bandage Norma had applied to his face. His wounds still stung and his head hurt.

"Van is the easy part." Alex sighed. "We'll damage the engine so it will look like mechanical failure. Something that would have stranded him here. We'll take out his essential clothing and personal property. Make it look like he hitched a ride out. The city will eventually impound it."

"Won't it be in his name?" Norma asked worriedly looking over the soon to be painted drywall for blood. If she couldn't find any, there was a good chance Chick wouldn't either.

Alex gave her a look and shook his head.  
"No. I'm willing to bet it's stolen, Norma." he said dully.

"So what do we do now? Dump him in the bay?" Ed asked.

"No, bodies come up all the time in the water." Alex sighed. "We have to bury him. In the woods."

~ "You keep lye in the barn?" Ed asked once they'd dug a shallow grave in the woods.

"Its' farm, Ed. Of course we have lye." Alex scoffed angrily.

"Sure this is deep enough?" Ed asked looking at the shallow pit that was barely three feet deep and would require Caleb's body to be buried in the fetal position. The soil was spongy and rich in the deepest part of the woods. They were in the middle of nowhere and Ed Warren wasn't the outdoorsman Alex Romero was. He didn't go on deer hunting trips each fall and camp out for days in the open wilderness. If asked to find his way back here, he doubt he ever could.

"Yes." Alex said coldly.

"Thought it had to be six feet deep." Ed said.

"That's only to keep the animals away. The lye will do that for us and dissolve the body." Alex sighed.

"Sorry, this is my fist midnight burial." Ed said defensively.

He helped Alex move Caleb's body, which seemed to grow heavier with each step to the shallow grave and push him in.

"We're going to cover every inch of him with the lye." Alex instructed calmly.

Ed looked over the sad bullet holes that marked Caleb's body. The missing eye was particularly gruesome.

"It's going to dissolve the body?" Ed asked.  
"Yes." Alex answered handing him a shovel to dump the chemical over the open grave.

"How long?" Ed asked as they shoveled the white powder over Celeb's mangled body.

"A few days." Alex said. "It's going to burn away everything. Even DNA."

It was quick work to cover Caleb with a fine powder of lye. Then Alex and Ed buried him with soil, and it was over.

"We're not going to say a few words?" Ed asked in shock that Alex seemed ready to leave.

"You gotta be kidding me." Alex muttered tossing the shovels in the back of the farm truck.

"A man died." Ed said. "A man died by my hands tonight, deputy. We're standing over his grave. I think words need to be said."

"Fine." Alex said irritably.

Ed took a moment to center himself and find that calmness, that peacefulness that he needed to speak to God. It didn't want to come as easily as it always had before.

That sprit that always was there with him suddenly wan't there. Then he pictured Norma by his side. Norma as his wife. Norma smiling at him and encouraging him in all things. He felt the tightness in his chest loosen and he could find that communication with his creator again.

"Heavenly God," he began. "Have mercy on our brother Caleb."

~ The van was the easy part. Alex quickly dismantling the gas pump. A trick he'd learned in high school shop class when a girl he liked was dating a guy he didn't like. He sabotaged the offending man's car routinely until they had a fight and stopped seeing each other. After the breakup, which hadn't been pretty, the young man in question never had car trouble again, but Alex had been to shy to ask the pretty blond girl out. He quickly discovered she wasn't exactly the right kind of girl for him anyway when her next boyfriend was a married father of three who abandoned his family to be with her.

She gained a horrible reputation for stealing another woman's husband.

In Alex's mind, you couldn't steal someone who didn't want to be stolen. Both parties were equally at fault.

He and Ed went through the inside packing clothing and personal items in a bag.

"Alex?" Ed asked.

Romero turned to him and saw the cigar box in Ed's hands. The same kind Norma kept in her closet at home.

"I think this is Norma." Ed explained handing him the cigar box that turned out to contain pictures and small trinkets. Alex looked them over and found Caleb had the same habit of collecting small reminders that Norma did. He had one of her little unicorns. A tiny pale blue one that Alex recognized matched her eye color. A school picture of Norma when she was barely sixteen. She'd been a thin but beautiful teenager with a sad expression and washed out dirty blond hair. The kind of girl Alex would have ignored in the halls, but perhaps would have wondered about a few times. There were several polaroids of Norma and Caleb as children eating strawberries together and a strange picture of an old mansion.

"I bet this is how he found her." Ed said handing Alex a newspaper clipping from a paper Alex had never seen before.

"Another paper must have picked up the story." he said looking over the picture of Norma with her sad broken arm and Dylan by her side.

"It was right after Sam died." Ed said. "Says the name of the town and everything."

Alex scowled at the smug handsome face of Zac Shelby pushing Norma's wheelchair. He crumpled the news paper article in the bag along with the clothes. He didn't want Norma to see it. Didn't want her to be reminded of Zac Shelby or that horrible time in her life. Things were bad enough already.

Alex shut the cigar box and saved it to give to Norma later. It would hold more value for her than him. As for Caleb's clothing, he would burn them in the back yard.

~ Norma made quick work of cleaning the house. When faced with a task of making things nice again, she was more than up to the challenge. It was always something that calmed her, even as a child, to make things nice and clean again. It was a way to control her world when she felt out of control.

When Alex and Ed arrived at the house, there was hardly any evidence of a crime at all. She'd even painted over parts the wall just to be safe.

"We'll just tell Chick I couldn't wait." Norma said. "He'll believe it."

"He will." Alex agreed. "He knows how you are. That's smart."

"You were never here, Ed." Alex said curtly to the other man.

"What?" Ed asked.

"In fact you should go now. Chick will be here in a few hours. He's been staying out at this cabin he's building, but he comes in before dawn. I'll drive you back to the bar and you can pick up you car." Alex said.

"Alex he should go to the hospital." Norma argued.

"How am I going to explain this?" Ed asked waving to the bandage across his brow. His head felt much better already but he knew there would be bruises. A story would have to be made up.

"Car accident?" Alex offered. "Make up whatever you want. Just leave Norma out of it."

"Alex!" Norma protested.

She took a step back when he turned to look at her. Alex had never looked at her that way before.

"I'll be outside." Ed said uncomfortably. He seemed to understand that they needed a moment. Alex and Norma both waiting until they were alone before he finally spoke to her.

"Tell me its' like you said." Alex pleaded. His eyes softening with a pain she wasn't used to seeing in him. "That you weren't here to meet Ed Warren… in **this** house for some secret…"

He couldn't seem to finish the sentence without becoming disgusted.

"Alex." Norma breathed. "No. Never." she promised. "Caleb called. He had Ed and was hurting him. Ed and I… never. It's never been like that with us."

"I've seen how he looks at you." Alex whispered.  
"I know." Norma nodded. "But I don't look at him that way."

Alex examined her face for a long time and Norma didn't flinch. It was so important that he believe her. That he knew she was telling him the truth.

His own face relaxed a little and she felt relief.

"Okay." he said softly. "Okay."

 **Okay so I got a fan request that Emma and Dylan's Katie could really be the daughter of Sam and Maddie. I'm guessing Sam and Madeline Lumas? From season 5. Interesting idea but we are still a LONG way away from that. Unless you men another story short. I always love fan requests so please give me a shout out. I'm working on sexy Normero time right now. They are WAY over due for it.**


	78. Chapter 78

78.

~ "Tess came over. She's watching them." Alex explained as the couple sadly painted a large wall of their living room together.

Norma had belatedly asked after the boys. All the trauma of Caleb had pushed her children out of her mind completely. She knew that Alex would never leave them alone, but felt guilty she hadn't asked after them sooner.

"That's good." she said.

Neither of them had wanted to go home after Alex had taken Ed back to the bar's parking lot. They had silently occupied themselves with painting away the whiteness of the living loom. A mindless chore that was becoming hypnotic with steady rhythms of brush strokes over and over again.

"I don't know if I like this color." Norma finally sighed once they had collectively pained two of the largest walls in the living room.

Alex smiled for the first time that evening.  
"You picked it out." he reminded her. "Dusky blue."

"I know but it's really dark and it looks more gray to me." Norma complained.

"Maybe it'll look different in the morning." he reminded her.

Norma shook her head.

"No. I don't like it." she said stubbornly. She placed the paint brushes neatly back in the plastic bag to be washed and covered the paint cans so nothing would be spilled. She could feel a panic attack coming on.

"Norma." Alex called back to her. "We can repaint. It's not a problem."

"I don't like the color. It's gray and I wanted it to be a nice blue, Alex." Norma said as if the world was coming to an end.

She didn't really care about the color at all. She actually liked it and thought it made the living room look very elegant. Yet, if she kept it this color, she would forever remember it as the color she painted the walls after she shot and killed her brother. After the man she loved buried him in the woods.

How they went about their lives like nothing had happened. Like Caleb never existed at all. Like he didn't matter.

"Why don't we call it a night?" Alex proposed. "Go home to the boys?"

"No." Norma shook her head. "I don't want to."

"Okay." Alex said calmly. "We can stay here. Sleep upstairs. It'll be like camping."

She shook her head and felt tears starting.

"No." she said. "No, I don't want to do that either."

"Okay." Alex said. "It's still early. Let's drive to Portland, rent a hotel room and stay the night. I'll call Tess, tell her we need a night to ourselves. She'll understand."

Norma was about to argue. It was almost nine and she wasn't in the mood for Alex being romantic. Yet, Portland was something different. A distraction. A change of scenery that would take her away from this place and make her forget what just happened.

"What about work?" she asked

"We can call into work and spend the afternoon together. Sleep in for once, not come home till we're ready."

"Really?" Norma asked as if he were lying to her.

"It's one of the perks of being an adult, Norma." he said.

Norma tried to think of a reason not to take him up on the offer, but couldn't.

"Can we ride in the SUV?" she asked.

"So we can drive with the sirens and lights on?" he smiled.

"Maybe." she said petulantly. "Only on the empty roads. You let Dylan do it all the time."

"Yeah, we can take the SUV, Norma." he promised.

~ It was a long drive to Portland. Alex drove fast, but Norma always felt safe when he was behind the wheel. For a city with a thriving night life, the streets felt oddly deserted so close to midnight.

Alex had taken them home to change their clothes and so Norma could pack them an over night bag and checked on the boys while he called and made a reservation at a nice hotel. Norma was hopeful that his idea of a nice hotel wasn't a motel with a cheap continental breakfast and run by a questionable manager who kept his bed ridden mother in the back office.

She was happy to see Alex pulling up a lavishly appointed building with a red awning proclaiming the 'Victory Hotel', complete with attendants to park the SUV and carry in their bags.

"Reservations under Romero." Alex said confidently to the concierge who came to meet them. Norma guessing it was unusual to have guests check in at this time of night and she hoped no one thought they were her for illicit reasons. Weren't hookers the only people who booked rooms this late?

"Mr. and Mrs. Alex Romero. Yes." the little man said with a smile. "Yes, your room is already prepared and would their be any room service?"

"Room service?" Norma asked realizing she was hungry.

"Yes, we have our kitchen open 24 hours." the concierge said politely.

Norma looked at Alex hopefully.

"We'd very very much like room service." Alex said with a smile.

~ "Alex these people are crazy if they think we're going to pay this much for food." Norma complained once she looked over the menu.

She had taken a quick shower as soon as they were in their lovely hotel room suite, not a room, but actual suite of rooms with a front parlor, bedroom and a bathroom that was bigger than her bedroom back home. She wanted to live here and had plans for the large bathtub later.

"Order that you want." Alex said peeling off his shirt. "You know what I like."

"Hamburger and onion rings." Norma sighed.

She waited for him to close the door and listened to the shower start up before eagerly planning her order to room service as though she'd done it a thousand times before.

~ "This was such a good idea." Norma sighed after she'd eaten the roasted duck and let her body relax and enjoy the moment with Alex.

They were both in the hotel's white bath robes and eating dinner in the little dinning room that was apart of their suite. Norma had never felt so content and happy in her life, a yet she felt guilty because her brother had died a few hours ago.

"Caleb wasn't always like that." she said suddenly.

Alex was about to take a sip of champagne, but stopped when she started talking about her brother. He refused to allow her to drink alcohol with him. When she tried he had rudely taken the bottle away and told her she knew why she couldn't drink. He was still under the impression she had to be pregnant. Or maybe it was just his hope that she was.

"I know." he said.

"He… he used to be… I mean, he was…" Norma tried to explain.

"That man tonight, wasn't your brother." Alex said. "Your brother was lost a long time ago, Norma."

She fought back tears but nodded.  
"I know." she said. "I just wanted to explain that, he took care of me. The same way you take care of me now. I always felt safe with him. Just like I always feel safe with you."

Alex looked a little sad.  
"I'm not ever going to change like that. I'll never hurt you. Not in a thousand years." he promised.

"I know." Norma smiled. "I know."

Alex stood up suddenly and went to his own over night bag. Pulling out a cigar box Norma recognized at once.

When she and Caleb were younger, a neighbor woman had a husband who smoked cigars and he would give them the boxes. The two siblings thinking that these were very fine gifts indeed, using them to hold rouge crayons and other things.

It was always the same brand and she knew it was Caleb's treasure box.

"This was in his van." Alex explained.

"Did you open it?" Norma asked defensively. She wasn't sure what was inside but felt she needed to protect her brother's memories from outsiders.

"It's nothing bad, Norma." Alex said handing her the box.

She gently took it from him and opened it. The smell of old pictures and plastic greeting her.

"Oh." she breathed.

She held up her high school picture. The last one she ever took, which was fortunate. She'd been a miserable teenager.

"This was me." she admitted showing Alex the picture.

He smiled warmly at it.

"I bet Mr. Baseball Hero wouldn't have given this girl a second look." she said bitterly.

"I'm looking at you now." Alex told her.

Norma cut him an amused look. He was flirting with her and clearly turning up the charm to full volume.

"This is Caleb and I when we would sneak into a neighbors garden and eat her strawberries." Norma explained with a grin. She hardly recognized the skinny little girl with the wild blond hair and the ill fitting tattered clothes.

She riffled through Caleb's treasures and discovered most of them were about her. Nothing with old girlfriends or their parents.

"He kept on of my unicorns." she said sadly. She discovered Caleb had kept a pair of her small sewing scissors from high school to. The pair she thought she had lost when she'd left home. Caleb had kept a few of her hair ribbons, all blue, and a few old trinkets that had only sentimental attachments for the siblings.

"Thank you." Norma said to Alex. "For saving these."

"I wasn't sure when the right time to give them to you would be." he admitted. "Nothing about this is… what it should be."

"It never is. What it should be." Norma admitted.

~ Alex watched her neatly arrange the box of sad little memories and close the lid on it forever. He knew Norma well enough to know that once she was done with something, it was done forever. She closed the cigar box with such a solemnness and finality, it was like she was respectfully closing a casket lid at a funeral.

"You're right." she said at last. "Caleb was lost to me a long time ago."

She seemed adrift in her own thoughts for a few seconds and Alex let her wander there till she came back to him on her own.

When she did, she looked around the nicely furnished room he had provided them with for the evening.

"The honeymoon suite, Deputy?" she teased.

"It was all they had available on such short notice." he lied.

"I'm sure it was." she said with a raised eyebrow.

He held his breath when that smile of hers made her face bloom to life. Even without a drop of make up, with her hair still damp and wavy from her shower, she was radiant and stunning.

"It's getting late." he said feeling the tingle of arousal start to grow more distracting. He hoped he wouldn't be unsatisfied tonight but had to prepare himself for it just the same. Norma's brother had just died and that had been horrible. He couldn't wash that away with an impromptu trip to Portland and staying in a nice hotel.

"We need to get to bed." Norma nodded with a certain look of mischief in her eye that Alex caught and made his heart flutter.

"If you- you don't want to…" he said feeling the need to stutter and hating himself for it.

"Who said I didn't want to?" she accused playfully. Her lips turning into a smile again as she stood up and slinked past him. The fluffy white robe she was wearing sliding off her body revealing the smooth lines and well rounded features of true beauty.

Alex watched, as though at an art exhibition, how she coyly walked away from him. Her naked body always graceful and catlike with each step towards the bedroom.  
"Coming?" she called back confidently.

He had to remind himself to think. Remind himself that it was his turn to talk. All the blood flow had gone from his head to other more needed appendages at the moment.

"Yes!" he said awkwardly and almost pushed over the chair trying to stand up too quickly. She was beautiful and graceful in seduction. He was not when being seduced.

Not about to let her reach their bed alone, Alex caught her, in all her naked glory before she had the chance to dive under the covers.

Her giggles of being captured were infectious and the contact of her skin, delicious and oddly forbidden made him feel dizzy.

They were so used to having to be quite or do these kinds of things quickly. It was a new and welcome experience to be so openly free with their bodies just now. They were no longer restricted to the bedroom or the fear of someone walking in. There was a beautiful primal feeling when Norma pulled off his robe and allowed him to be naked with her.

"I've missed this." Alex breathed helplessly.

"Is this why our bedroom is going to be downstairs and the boys are up in the new house?" she teased with smile that made his heart beat even faster.

"Upstairs and as far way from our room as its' possible to get." he informed her.

"And we'll have our bathroom." Norma sighed happily.

"Yeah we will. We'll never have to see the kids till dinner time." he promised.  
"It's going to be wonderful." she said with sparking eyes, her nose slowly nuzzling his as his member rubbed up against her smooth belly.

He hoped, hoped more than anything she was already pregnant. He knew just as surely as he knew his own name that he wanted this woman to be his wife and to be the mother of his children. Seeing Norma with her children resonated within him the ache and clarity that he would be alone in this world when Simon died. He would have no other family members. That he would be alone without her.

"Can I ask a favor?" he breathed. His excitement for her becoming a distracting itch that needed attention. He couldn't be expected to look at artwork, to hold it in his arms and not be satisfied by it.

"What?" she asked.  
"I- I never asked for it before." he stammered. "It's not- not bad or anything."

"What is it?" she smiled. Her eyes dancing brightly only it felt like he was drunk just now.

"Can we try something new?" he asked. "Something a little… a little more…"

He was careful about how he said things. His tiger was beautiful, powerful and alluring, but she was still a tiger. Still dangerous.

"Kinky?" she smiled slowly.

He nodded. His hopes taking flight that it was easier to ask than he thought.

"Go lie on the bed." she ordered.

"If you're not okay with it." he offered.

"Stop being a gentleman." she said coldly and gripped the head of his member between her thumb and index finger. Her lips cruel when she kissed him.

She gave him a few well compressed strokes before maneuvering him onto the bed. Alex had never asked for this before from her. He knew she'd been victimized and although she seemed confident sexually, he didn't want to do anything to trigger some buried trauma from her past. For all he knew, oral sex might bring up memories of rape for her.

Norma didn't seem phased by it however. Her expression was still that of seductress and Alex found it very appealing.

"Hands off, deputy." she ordered and he looked down at himself to realize he'd been working his member while examining her body slinking over him.

"Yes, ma'am." he submitted and allowed her to pull his hands free and take charge of his body.

The instant her hands touched his sensitive skin, her lips and hot wet breath covered that throbbing need, he was lost. He let out a gasp and had to remind himself he was free to be as loud as he wanted. The boys were miles away and they were in the honeymoon suite. He was with the love of his life and she was pleasing him in a way they both wanted.

He had to exercise a deep sense of control not to climax right away. He didn't want to embarrass himself or Norma just now with a sudden ejaculation into her mouth without warning.

Still it was a difficult thing to hold off. The way her mouth moved slowly, beautifully, up and down his shaft. Her warm hands caressing every delicate part of him that she had to know would bring him to climax before she had the chance to be satisfied.

All that was nothing compared to her eyes. The way she looked at him when she pleasured him was enough to send him over the edge.

"Baby." he groaned and felt his hands wrap savagely into her hair.

He couldn't help it, she was sadistic in her work. He had to pull her off or take the chance of an embarrassing discharge.

Her back arched in a way that was made for artists to paint when he pulled her back by the hair. Her breasts, still perfect after two children, were rounded and wanting of his touch as she seemed to accept hair pulling was a natural part of their little game tonight.

"Naughty, girl." he panted. His eyes drinking in the delicious sight of her naked body. Her breasts were just the beginning. His gaze traveled along her belly, taught as ever, to the sinful valley he always lusted after.

With his hands still laced in her hair, he pulled her back further, making her back arch and her knees bend backwards till she was presenting all she had to offer for him.

Felling slightly dizzy again, Alex ran his free hand between her legs and enjoyed her slight twitching. The slight wiggle of her hips as she tried to get away. His other hand still pinning her down to the bed by her hair.

' _Only fair._ ' he decided and ran the tip of his finger over the top of her clitoris making her hips buck up before he started moving in small circles of torment around that little node of pleasure.

She tried to slam her legs shut but her refused to let her. Refused to her do anything but enjoy herself.

"Alex…" she panted as he kept her pinned down to the bed by her hair and tormented her without mercy. Her hands trying to deflect him but he'd sternly warned her against it.

"Try that again and it's going to be worse." he promised.

She almost dared to take him up on that challenge. Almost. Alex wasn't above getting the handcuffs out if she wouldn't behave for him tonight.

"Please?" she panted at last when he saw her desire had become ripened and wet with wanting him. "Alex, I can't hold on anymore."

He leaned down and kissed her, careful not to take her just yet. He would have her, but only when he was ready. When he chose to.

"You're the love of my life." he whispered softly to her.

He watched as her eyes refocused and in that moment he thrust himself in and felt her spasm sharply with the contact.

~ Norma wasn't prepared for such an admission. Wasn't ready for their little game to turn serious and become romantic. She had enjoyed the fun of it. Enjoyed seducing him as if he were merely a play thing.

When he made his intrusion, when she felt him glide in with ease and comfort, she tried not to show any euphoria. Tried not to show he was winning. She wasn't willing to give up the game he had insisted they play.

"I thought you wanted to misbehave." she whispered as he began to slowly rock inside her. His usual hypnotic rhythm of lovemaking that had nothing to do with the kinky sex he seemed to want earlier.

"This isn't fucking, Alex." she reminded him gently as she tried to fight off the wave of pleasure that almost pulled her under.

"Don't you ever say that word again." he growled in her ear and she gasped at the sudden feel of his hot breath tickling her ear and the demand for her to behave herself.

"Why not?" she teased as his lips traveled down her neck. "Thought you wanted this."

"You're going to be my wife." he moaned weakly. The tempo of his hips quickening and she could feel he was coming soon. She wrapped her legs more securely around his hips and let him move with her. Their bodies becoming one.

"You're going to be my wife." he said again helplessly. "The mother of my children. I don't fuck my wife."

"I'm not your wife yet." she reminded him spitefully.

That seems to be all he needed. Just a willful smile and a simple rocking of her hips sent him over the edge before he could stop himself. She always liked it best when he swore as he climaxed. Alex wasn't the type of man who used profanities so she knew she'd done her job well when he used them now.

His body sweating and spent as he clutched onto her savagely.

Realizing he was probably heavy, he rolled off her and allowed them both to catch their breath.

"We should have done this sooner." he admitted.

"When would we have had the time?" she asked lazily rolling onto her side. Her body felt relaxed and happy. Happier than she ever remembered feeling. "Between my two jobs and the boys?"

He looked slightly wounded.  
"I still say you shouldn't have to work two jobs." he told her. "As soon as the house is done-"

"What?" Norma laughed. "Quit working and be a happy house wife? You have any idea how expensive it is rising two kids? If we have another one?"

Alex looked discouraged. Clearly he'd been thinking she would be a stay at home mother.

"I like earning my own money." she offered. "First time in my life I've had some control over my own fate."

"I just don't want you to work so much is all." Alex admitted. "I mean, once we're in the house… our own home together, things will be perfect."

"There's no such thing as perfection, Alex." she told him sadly.

He glanced over the roundness of her hip and barely concealed naked breasts.

"I disagree." he said.


	79. Chapter 79

79.

~ "Pastor Warren took a bad fall at home." Mrs. Herman explained. "Had some kind of hematoma on his face. Just awful. Had to get it drained and everything."

"Sounds terrible." Norma grimaced. The older woman waddled down the church pews following the even older Deacon Tim who was filling in for Ed for the next few weeks.

"Yes, well, Pastor doesn't want the congregation to see him with his face so badly bruised. He said it looks much worse than it is. My husband had a hematoma when he took a fall. Broke his hip. It was awful." Mrs. Herman told her.

Everything was awful in Mrs. Herman's world Norma decided. The older woman complained about everything that moved and everything that didn't.

"I guess when your as young as Pastor Ed, is you care how your face looks. Me, I'm old. No one cares if I'm pretty or not." she said spitefully.

Norma knew better than to argue with a mean old woman looking for pity.

"I'm going up to the balcony." she said. Eager to get away.

"Sure." Mrs. Herman said. "No one wants to talk to me. All you young people are so eager to leave. You just can't wait till I'm dead."

~ "Bill hasn't been here in a few days." Chick complained to Alex that afternoon.

"When was the last time you saw him?" the Sheriff's deputy asked with real concern as the two of them walked around the camping van that was parked on the farm's front lawn.

Alex felt a pain of sympathy for Chick. The giant of a man looked worried over Caleb's disappearance. No doubt, under the guise of 'Bill' Caleb and Chick had become friends.

"Last I saw of him, was right after you came back from Florida." Chick admitted. "Said he was picking up an old girlfriend and his kid, then he was leaving town with them."

Alex glanced at Chick, but quickly went back to examining the van.

"Sure that was the last time you saw him? That was a week ago." Alex said.

"Yeah. His van is here. He sleeps in his van. Likes the outdoors. Never saw him park it in front of the house though. He was more low key than that." Chick said.

"Well, I've already called it in. The city is going to have to have it impounded." Alex admitted. "Can't leave it here."

"Come on, man. Bill never would have just left Milly here." Chick said.

"Milly?" Alex asked.

"His van." Chick explained. "Bill said he's had this van since forever. That it belonged to his old man and that the family used to travel around in it. Go camping and stuff. Good memories. If she broke down he would have tried to fix it."

The giant of a man in a silk kimono looked worried.

"Something happened to him." he said.

~ "It's not as bad as it looks." Ed said when Norma's eyes widened at seeing the horrible bruises on his face. She'd immediately gone to his house to see him after third services finally let out. Thankful she was the only one to visit the pastor that Sunday.

"It looks pretty bad." she breathed and resisted the urge to touch his forehead. The bruising was a deep, dark purple and she could see why he had chosen to stay indoors and away from people for a few weeks. Having to explain bruises this bad would become tiresome and a man like Ed would no doubt falter in the story soon enough.

"I'm sorry." she sighed.

"It's okay." Ed said and winced slightly when he tried to smile. "They drained the blood and gave me some pain medication. I'm sleeping it off."

He looked at Norma as if she were the one who was truly hurt.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" she asked defensively. She'd felt her guard go back up as soon as Alex brought her back home again. That need to protect herself from people who wouldn't understand. Who could never understand.

"Your brother died, Norma." Ed said compassionately. "Whatever he did in life, he was still your brother. You told me that you were once very close."  
"We were." she admitted. "We haven't been for a long time though."

"Yeah." Ed said and seemed to sympathize. "Since it happened, the thing with Caleb, I've been thinking a lot about my old man. How sometimes time doesn't heal all wounds."

"No, it doesn't." Norma agreed.

Ed looked thoughtful.

"Keep getting letters from him. My dad. He wants to see me. Visit with me. What do you think I should do?" he asked.

"You're asking me?" she smiled and almost laughed. "The leading expert in dysfunctional family life?"

"How dare try and take my title for expert in dysfunctional family life." Ed said in mock horror.

Norma rolled her eyes.

"I don't know what you should do, Ed." she admitted sadly. "If it were me, I wouldn't give him the time of day. It's what I've always done though. When I left home, I never looked back at the people who hurt me."

"Even if they were sorry?" Ed asked.

"See that's the thing." Norma sighed. "The people who hurt me, they were never sorry."

~ Alex tried to push the fact that the van was registered to Caleb Calhoun out of his mind. He couldn't put the genie back in the bottle. The van was already towed and documented by the county. It was indeed registered to Caleb Calhoun who had skipped parol in Michigan. There was a warrant out for his arrest and soon enough, the information would come across Wilsons desk.

It was right their in black and white.

Caleb's full name, date of birth, known associates, crimes and closest living relatives.

"Romero!" Wilson shouted from his office so loudly Graceland barked out of instinct.

"Down." Alex ordered the large dog and Graceland put her head back on the dog bed.

All eyes were on him as Alex stood up and walked to Wilson's office as if going to his execution.

~ "Son, you want to tell me why a wanted parolee jumper named Caleb Calhoun had his van towed from your property?" Tom asked.

Alex took a deep breath, and told the truth.

"I didn't know it was Caleb Calhoun's van until we ran the registration. He told me his name was Bill." he explained.

"What the hell was 'Bill' doing on your property, Alex?" Wilson demanded. He held up a thick file on Caleb Calhoun that no doubt had just come hot off the printer.

"I needed help fixing up the old farm house." Alex explained slowly. "Chuck Hogan, found this guy who was willing to work for cash. Who did a decent job. Said his name was Bill and I didn't ask any more questions than that. Was glad I could anyone to do the work after all the flooding."

"Jesus, Alex!" Tom spat in annoyance. "Norma's brother. You were harboring a man who skipped out on parole. A man who nearly killed a man in a bar fight. Almost beat him to death with his bare hands. It just so happens he found work at your place?"

"I-I don't know how he found me." Alex stuttered slightly. "Maybe he was looking for Norma. I don't know. I haven't seen him in a few days. It's why I had the van towed."

"Did you harbor this man? Help him in any way?" Tom asked.

Alex couldn't lie. Chick would be dragged in and a lie would get him caught.

"I paid him in cash for the work he did on my property. I didn't know he was a fugitive." Alex admitted.

"Fuck." Tom whispered. "Some internal investigator will say you added a criminal."

"He lied about his name. I had his van towed. I didn't know." Alex said honestly.

"Norma didn't recognize her own brother?" Tom asked.

"She's working two jobs and she has the boys. She's hardly at the farm." Alex said easily. That also was the truth.

"Did Caleb ever try to contact Norma?" Tom asked. "She ever say anything about him being here?"

Alex took a few seconds. Pretending to search his memory.

"Norma only talked about her brother… when they were kids." he said.

"I'll have to call her in." Tom said.  
"Question her?" Alex asked. The last thing he wanted was for Norma to be alone with Tom Wilson. At least not before Alex could coach her on what to say.

"Yes. She might have an idea. Who knows, maybe she kept things from you." Tom said.

"I don't think she would help him." Alex said.

"What make you say that?" Tom asked suspiciously. "Thought you said Norma only ever mentioned Caleb when they were kids."

Alex felt the neatly laid trap start to spring. Wilson was great about letting people wander into traps, and he'd laid a nice bear trap for Alex.

"If he did contact her, she would have told me. If she knew he was a fugitive, she wouldn't have helped him. She wouldn't risk her freedom, being separated from her boys, to help him. Not for anything. You know how Norma is. How protective she is." Alex said easily.

Wilson eyed him suspiciously.

"I want you to wait in interrogation room 1 while I have black and white pick Norma up from work." Wilson said.

~ Norma told herself there wasn't anything to worry about when Wilson sat her down in his office. He wasn't in his sheriff's uniform. The tall silver fox wearing a non threatening red and white flannel shirt and jeans when he sat next to her.

"Alex has been fixing up his grandfather's old farm house." Tom said.

"Yeah, we're hoping to move in by Christmas." Norma said brightly.

"He hired some men to do some work on the house. Do you know them?" Tom asked.  
"I met Chick." Norma said. "Never met the other guy."

"Bill." Tom said cooly.

"Yeah, I think that was his name." Norma said feeling the need to fidget. She ran a hand through her hair nervously.

"Norma, your brother's abandoned van was found on the property. Have you heard from him?" Tom asked.

Norma stopped herself just in time. She almost said no. Almost. She realized she hadn't seen Alex when she came in. That Wilson had most likely already talked to Alex. she wasn't sure what he'd told the Sheriff about Caleb. What he knew about Caleb already. What tiger traps were already set for her.

"Caleb's van?" she questioned innocently. "What is it doing here?"

"What we're trying to find out." Tom said. "When was the last time you saw your brother, Norma?"

She thought back to the farm house. To Ed's bleeding head and Alex coming to her rescue. To Caleb's face when he demanded to see Dylan. Exposing the secret, she'd been so ashamed of, for all to see.

She thought about her brother. Her chubby older brother who would rob an apple tree for her. Who, when they were very young, would go for days without bathing and the dust of summer would cake on their faces and hair. Those were days that Caleb could take her to hidden swimming holes and the two of them would spend hours away from from the real world. Neither of them anxious to go back home to parents who were fighting. As a child she loved her brother. Loved that he was brave and yet gentle enough to look after her. He was much more than her brother, He was her best friend.

"I… I haven't seen my brother…" she said close to real tears. "In years."

~ "Why didn't you tell me you recognized that van, Norma?" Alex asked as the two of them prepared dinner together.

Norma refused to look back at Alex and instead rinsed off the cutting board she'd used.

"Because… I didn't recognize it." she said slowly. "It's been a long time, Alex."

"It was in Caleb's name, and before that it was registered to a Ray Calhoun. Your father. It's been in your family for years. How could you not have mentioned that?" he asked checking to see that the boys were still playing outside.

The weather was turning colder everyday but Alex had insisted that the children needed to build up a resilience to it. To spend a few hours outside and then come inside to eat something hot would help them create a tolerance to the cold that he enjoyed.

"Alex it was dark and a lot was happening." Norma said defensively. She stirred fresh vegetables into the stew she was making and debated on if she should add more. "Besides, I made a point of blocking all that out. It wasn't good memories for me."

"Well, it would have been easier for me if I'd known." Alex sighed. He finished setting the table and tried not to sound too annoyed with her. "Ed and I would have gotten rid of the van instead of calling impound."

"No, it's better this way." Norma said after some thought. "What if someone had seen you or Ed driving it? Or found it torched or something? No, this way you look innocent. You followed the rules. Tom believes us. Thats all that matters."

Alex nodded a little. He hated to admit that Norma was right about that. Tom Wilson just about fell all over himself comforting Norma in his office when she started to cry today. Word had gotten back to Alex that Norma's long lost brother had tried to meet her but had skipped town when he felt the heat of jumping parole. Leaving his sister devastated and without closure.

Norma, ever one to play her part well, had helpfully suggested to Wilson that Caleb had a background in construction and would most likely be looking for work that paid cash.

Alex was eventually let out of the interrogation room just in time to see the charming Norma Bates offer help to Sheriff Wilson and someone over the phone in Michigan who turned out to be Caleb's probation officer.

"I wish I could tell you more." She said politely. "I think all he knows how to do is construction. I wish he had made the time to talk to me. At least for a little while."

"You've been extremely helpful, Mrs. Bates." The voice over the speaker phone said. Then, just like that, Wilson told Alex to take Norma home.

"You should have seen Ed's face." Norma said to change the subject. "It's really bruised."

"Thought you said that deacon was leading the service and Ed was home sick." Alex asked. His cop instincts never failing to catch small details.

"Ed is home. He didn't want people to see his face like that. I went over to check on him. Brought him some groceries." Norma said and lowered the heat on her stew.

"Wait." Alex said. His mind rejecting the premise that she'd gone over to another man's house to do the domestic things he'd always associated with his home.

"You didn't tell me you went to Ed Warren's house, Norma." Alex said feeling betrayed by the whole idea she'd been in another man's intimate space.

Norma rolled her eyes as if to accuse him of being childish.

"Just to check on him." she assured him. "He'd been hurt."

Alex was about to argue when she opened the back door and demanded that the boys come inside for dinner. A cold blast of fall air rushing into the kitchen and chasing away any warmth.

~ Alex waited up for Norma. He didn't want to fight, that wasn't what he was looking for. He didn't want to discuss Ed Warren either. He just didn't want to go to bed angry with her. They were even officially engaged yet and it felt like they'd been married for years sometimes.

They'd hardly spoken to each other at dinner while Dylan chatted about school and Norman complained that he didn't like the cold. However he did like the record player Alex had given him. Chick had found it in the attic and it had all the old records Alex used to listen to as a little boy.

Mostly Disney read along books, but Alex's mother had been good about keeping the books in mint condition and Norman liked the idea of being read to with a book he could control. He responded very well to having a device like the small record player that was his alone to play with. Something that belonged to him and Alex had assured him he didn't have to share with Dylan.

Not that Dylan cared about the baby books and records. Not when there was baseball to be played and ice hockey to learn.

Norma hadn't been to thrilled when Alex suggested Dylan learn to skate now before it was too late.

"I was hoping to teach him piano soon. You've got Dylan's schedule already booked for the next two years." Norma complained over dinner.

"If he doesn't learn to play baseball and hockey now, Norma, he's ruined for life." Alex said logically.

Finally Norma came out of the hallway, shutting off the lights as she went and joined him in bed.

"What took you so long?" Alex asked.

"Nothing." she shook her head.  
"Nausea?" he asked.

Norma rolled her eyes and he thought he saw a slight smile.

"No." she said firmly. "Actually I took a pregnancy test and it came back negative. You had me thinking I was pregnant. Made me think my feet were swelling and everything."

Alex blinked and felt a dull sense of loss. As if he'd won something only to be told it was being taken back.

"Oh." he said.

Norma glanced back at him and he still couldn't believe she wasn't pregnant.

"Are you sure?" he asked again.

"I can show you the test." she told him. "It's pretty conclusive. Besides, I've been having cramps already."

"Oh." Alex nodded.

"You're disappointed." Norma observed.

"No." Alex said quickly. "I mean… it's better if we wait till after we're married."

"We have plenty of time, Alex." she reminded him.

"Right." Alex said and nodded. The future he could picture so easily was slipping away and he couldn't catch it.

"Plenty of time." he said.


	80. Chapter 80

80.

~ "So, she's not pregnant. Isn't that a good thing?" Wilson asked.

Alex shrugged and tried yet again to sync the new computer in the Sheriff's office to the internet.

"I mean you've got a lot going on just now, Alex." Tom reminded him. "With Bill, excuse me, Caleb run off and all, the house won't be done till after Christmas. You really want a baby to worry about?"

"It's not that." Alex said.

"What?" Tom asked. "You just wanted to prove your boys could swim?"

The sheriff gave Alex a knowing look and Romero felt his fast flush slightly. He was starting to regret being one of the few who had volunteered taking the continuing education classes in computers. Most of the older staff small town departments felt computers were highly dangerous. Both physically and mentally. One woman even resigned from the DMV because her boss was bringing in computers.

"Please don't tell me it's because you want to lock in your relationship with Norma Bates." Wilson added. The man started eating a granny smith apple while he watched Alex search for the internet routing number. Despite his policy of no food or drinks in the office.

"Why would you think such a thing?" Alex asked.

Wilson shrugged.

"Well, a baby would tie you to someone far more securely that a marriage ever could." the sheriff reasoned. "Hell, we both know women do it all the time. They set their sights on some man and get pregnant on purpose just to trap him into marrying them."

"Norma has already agreed to marry me." Alex reminded him.

"Yeah but, you have to admit…" Wilson said.

"Admit what?" Alex asked quickly feeling defensive.

"Well, Norma Bates is very attractive. She's got a lot going for her. Even with two kids in tow. Tess and I wonder sometimes." Tom said lazily.

"About?" Alex asked. He'd given up trying to enable the computer to the internet. Wilson never used it anyway.

"Tess and I worry that you and Norma got very serious very fast." Tom said frankly. "If it was just the two of you, I wouldn't care. You're both young and you're supposed to fall in love quickly when you're young. But Norma has the two boys and you're already ripping apart the family homestead for her and talking about having babies. You haven't even known this woman for a year, Alex."

Alex glared at the silver fox who raised his hands up defensively. Apple and all.

"I only say this because this isn't like you. In the six years I've known Alex Romero, I would never guess he'd be doing all this. Especially with a woman he's only known for ten months. You're talking about the family farm like it's a happy place. You're wanting to volunteer to coach her kid's little league team. Hell, you're already living with her full time. Sybil must be over looking that or else her benefits would have been cut. Now you're eager as hell to have a baby? What if you find out some horrible, deeply buried secret about her?" Tom asked. He went back to eating his apple.

"I don't think so." Alex said turning back to the computer.

"Everyone has secrets, Alex." Tom reminded him.

Alex grimaced and turned back to Tom.

"Simon's nursing home called me last month. His doctor detected an irregular heartbeat. He keeps complaining of pain in his hip to. His time is coming to an end, Tom. When it dose, when I have to bury him next to my grandmother, I'll be alone in the world. I'll have no more family. I guess it's just hitting more that there won't be anyone to grieve for me the way that I'll grieve for Simon or my mother when I'm gone." Alex explained.

The Sheriff nodded.

"No one loves a bitter old bachelor." he concluded. "Everyone loves a family man."

"You know, when Norma was dating that idiot Shelby…" Alex breath caught painfully at mentioning the bastards name. "I remember feeling so jealous that he was there in that house with her. That she had made a place for him in her home. That he could go there and meals were prepared and Norma was there. That everyone belonged there and was happy. It's not just the sex. Not for me it's not. I've always wanted this, I just didn't know it. Losing my mom, my dad going to prison, Simon in the nursing home… I'm going to be alone in the world."

"Is Norma ready for another baby?" Tom asked. "Three is a bit much. Especially with her youngest having his issues."

"We don't know if Norman had autism." Alex sighed.

"You haven't had him diagnosed?" Tom asked. "Why not?"

"Norma is scared it will label him." Alex shrugged.

"Trust me, a label is better than frustration." Tom said.

"I'll be sure to tell her that."

"Well, be sure to tell her that you two have plenty of time." Tom reminded him. "Tess and I didn't start our family for a few years anyway. It's important to build to that level of trust."

For some reason, he was never sure why, it was on the tip of Alex's tongue to confide in Tom his fears about Ed Warren. How he was scared Norma was falling for the tall, handsome church leader. How he couldn't bear it if he lost the love of his life. How if she were to leave, suddenly vanish, it would feel like darkness would sweep over him.

An annoying buzzing sound erupted and diverted Alex's attention.

"You're online." he said and waited until he had a full green bar.

"Technology is great." Tom said. "One day I'll tell you the story how I hooked up the old CB radio and talked to people in Russia."

A knock on the door stopped the abbreviated internet lesson when Deputy White casually peered in.

"Thought you might want this one Romero." White said.

"What one?" Alex asked suspiciously.

"Assault complaint out at the Achanium Club. Some girl called it in. The vice president of the club, Bob Paris says its' nothing and don't bother, but before she hung up, the girl was trying to report a sexual assault." White said.

"Bob Paris and I grew up together." Alex explained when Tom gave him a look. "I know him."

"Is he the type that would try to cover up a sexual assault?" Tom asked darkly.

"He's the type who would try to prevent the girl from calling it in. The type who would cover it up, hide the bodies, you name it." Alex said.

He stood up and waved at White and a female Deputy to join him. A sharp whistle and Graceland was racing after her partner. Eager for action.

~ "Never been here before." Deputy Roth admitted. She was the female Deputy Alex had recruited to join him to investigate the Achanium Club.

"This is a hunting club." White sneered. "Claim to be a hunting club but not real hunters."

Graceland gave a sudden bark with all the strange new smells and Alex had to pull hard on her collar to keep her back.

"Not real hunters?" Roth asked.

"Yeah, I heard that they buy the pelts from poachers in Africa illegally and have some local taxidermist stuff them for their little trophy room." White said with a grin. "Mr. Decody. He did a Turkey for me last year. Turned out nice. I gave it to my mom."

"Oh that's nice." Roth nodded.

"But these guys do endangered animals." White said suddenly serious.

Alex was having a harder time controlling Graceland now that they were approaching the large building. Maybe she was smelling or sensing the stuffed animals that were once alive and it was spooking her.

"Maybe you should put her in the truck, Romero." White offered.

"Just ring the bell." Alex ordered.

~ As expected, Bob Paris himself answered the door.

"Well! White Pine Bay's finest. What brings you out here?" he asked with the cheesy politician grin that he'd inherited from his father. Along with millions of dollars.

"A young woman called claiming sexual assault." Alex said in an authoritative tone.

Bob looked behind him at the guests in the parlor.

"Want me to say it louder Bob?" Alex asked bitterly.  
"I called and told your department there was a mistake." Bob said. "The young lady in question was paid in full and has already taken a cab to wherever she wants to go."

"We're going to need to search the premises." Alex said coldly. "I notice you have security cameras, that's good, Bob. I'd like to see footage of the young lady getting in a cab and leaving. I also need her name and address so we can contact her and see if she needs medical attention."

"I don't have those document's, Alex." Bob Paris said indifferently. "I don't take the W-2's of hookers."

"She's a possible rape victim." Roth said.

"Prostitutes cant be raped." Bob said lazily.

"You're going to let us in and show us that footage of your guest leaving." Alex smiled. He knew himself well enough to know it wasn't a good smile. "Otherwise I'll have the entire Sheriff's department combing over this little club looking for this girl. You really want that?"

~ "Did that prick really just say prostitutes can't be raped?" Roth asked. They were looking room to room while Bob Paris was trying to produce security camera footage of a girl getting in a cab that Romero bet didn't exist.

"Bob Paris is a douche bag." White told her. "Always been a douche bag. It's why he has to pay for sex."

"Gross." Roth moaned.

"Don't complain to me, sister." White said in an obvious attempt to curry her favor. Alex could sense that White was hitting on her as he did with most women. "Romero here used to be his friend."

"Really?" Roth asked.

"Yeah they went fishing together and everything. Romero even stayed at their lake house back in high school." White bragged.

"That was a long time ago." Alex clarified. He remembered that summer staying with Bob Paris thinking it would be nothing but drinking a girls. How quickly all the fun had turned dangerous and how Sybil had come to get him when he didn't like how hateful Bob had gotten when some girl refused his advances. He'd spent the rest of the summer with her and never trusted Bob Paris again.

Graceland had calmed down once they were past the grand parlor with all the dead animals. She still was on edge and didn't like it here. Her sense of smell no doubt working overtime with all the exotic triggers setting her off.

"Romero, we've just about searched this whole place." Roth sighed. "Looked in all the closets-"

Graceland gave off a loud bark and lunged out of Alex's grip before he could stop her.

"Down!" Alex ordered but the large police dog had picked up something she was highly interested in.

She raced ahead of them and down a flight of stairs to the kitchens that was empty and to the walk in cooler.

"Romero!" White said eagerly once Alex had reclaimed his grip on Graceland's collar.

He turned and saw that Roth and White were careful about where they were stepping.  
"We've got blood, sir." Roth said.

Alex saw the blood trail that went from the stairs to the walk in and saw the doors were shut tight and even chained and secured with a pad lock.

"Go out to the SUV, get the bolt cutters. Call the ambulance." Alex said.

"What if it's just a lot of beef?" Roth asked when White ran outside to the SUV to call it in and get the bolt cutters to open the walk in.

"No one brings beef in from upstairs bedrooms." Alex reminded her darkly. He nodded to the blood trail that had been sloppily ignored but clearly someone had been dragged from upstairs and put into the walk in.

It seemed to take forever for White to come back with the bolt cutters.

"Ambulance is on it's way. That prick Bob Paris is already treating to sue." White said as Alex handed Graceland over to Roth.  
"Fuck him." Romero said as both men pressed hard on the handles of the bolt cutters till they heard the chain link snap.

~ The girl inside cried that she was sorry and that she wouldn't tell anyone what happened. As soon as Romero and White opened the walk in door she made herself small in the corner and sobbed that if she was just let go, she wouldn't tell anyone.

"It's okay." Roth said handing Graceland back over to Romero. The two men, knowing they were not needed just now, stepped aside.

"We're the police. An ambulance is on the way." Roth was telling her.

"I think I got a shot with her. With Roth." White whispered to Alex.

"Not now." Alex growled at White.

"When the newspapers come, be sure they get both our pictures in the papers." White added eagerly. "The ladies in town really dig a guy who's a hero. It's how you got Norma."

"Seriously, White. Not now." Romero warned.

~ "At this time we can't comment on any suspects, no." Alex told the local reporter as yet another camera flashed in his face.

"Do you have a name of the victim?" a reporter from Portland asked. A TV crew from a larger city had come down to the small town when they heard about a rape in a high profile hunting club.

"We have a name." Alex said. "We are not releasing it. Next question."

"Was it true the police dog was used in finding the victim?" a reporter asked.

"Yes." Alex said. "The police dog was used in locating key evidence that helped us to find the victim."

Norma held her youngest on her lap and watched with pride as Alex gave his first news conference on live TV. She was already making plans for all his newspaper clippings.

"Mom, what's rape?" Dylan asked.  
"What?" Norma asked. Her attention diverted from the handsome man on the screen in his heroic uniform to her son's awkward question.

"They keep saying Alex saved a girl who was raped. What does that mean?" Dylan asked.

Norma pulled her youngest closer and wasn't sure she was ready to answer that.

"Well, it just means that someone forced that girl to have sex with him. Alex is trying to find out who now." Norma explained.

Dylan looked like he was thinking and Norma prepared herself to answer another awkward question. It had already been decided that Alex would be the one to give Dylan and Norman the talk.

"Someone hurt that girl?" Dylan concluded.  
"Yes. In a bad way, honey." Norma said.

"I'm glad Alex found her." Dylan said.

"Me to." Norma nodded and smiled.

"Alex needs to come home." Norman pouted. He didn't like it when his schedule was thrown off. Normally Alex was home by now but the sudden rape investigation, the news circus and press conference had caused him to be late.

"He'll be home soon." Norma assured her youngest.

"I like it when Alex is here." Norman said. "Things aren't scary."

"They aren't?" Norma smiled.

"Yeah." Dylan agreed. "I used to worry about stuff all the time, but I don't worry anymore."

"I'm glad." Norma said.

"When you marry Alex, will we have his last name?" Dylan asked when the news started talking about another story and Norma turned off the TV and told the boys to go to bed.

"I'm not sure. I'll have his last name. I'll be Norma Romero." she said.

"I'll be Dylan Romero, right?" Dylan asked.

"I don't know." Norma asked. "Your real dad would have to say it's okay."

"He won't care." Dylan said. "Norman will be Norman Romero. Right?"

"Why don't you go to bed and worry about this in the morning?" Norma smiled.

~ Alex didn't get home till after midnight.

He had made sure a deputy had patrolled Norma's house every hour as soon as the raid on Bob Paris' precious club had happened. He wasn't stupid enough to think their wouldn't be consequences for messing with someone as vicious and powerful as Bob Paris. As soon as the girl was found alive, as soon as she started talking and saying how Bob Paris had slapped her and dragged her away from the phone, Alex knew Norma was in danger.

Still, he couldn't just uproot his family with every major bust. This was the hazards of marrying a cop. Norma would have to accept that or she couldn't accept him. He could always take Norma and the boys to the farm or to Tom and Tess' place if things got too bad. Maybe even to the old hunting cabin only he and Tom knew about up in the woods.

Alex dismissed the thought right away. He wasn't going to run from a man like Bob Paris and he wasn't going to teach his boys to either. Yet, he couldn't risk losing Norma. If he lost her, it would break him.

 _'Maybe I should call Charlotte. She's been wanting me to come and work for her in San Fransisco.'_ he thought pulling up into the driveway of his darkened house. He saw the other deputy's SUV drive away now that he was home. A wave of thanks passing between them. Both knowing they were looking after family.

 _'Be a lot safer.'_ he thought unlocking his front door and letting Graceland in.

"You're home." Norma said in the darkness of the living room.

"What are you still doing up?" Alex accused. The dog, untroubled by all the commotion of the day had been eager to come home and settle herself on Norma's couch.

"I couldn't sleep till I knew you were home." Norma shrugged.

Alex felt a delightful swell of pride that had nothing to do with the congratulatory pats on the back from his fellow deputies an hour ago.

He felt her step into his arms and enjoyed the welcoming embrace of the only woman he knew he'd ever love.

"I saw the news conference." she whispered in his ear.

He didn't want to talk about the case. Didn't want to think about Bob Paris or that poor girl.

"I'm so proud of you." Norma whispered in his ear. "We all were."

"The boys saw?" Alex smiled.

"Yeah. They were impressed you were on TV." she grinned.

Alex pulled away from her, but kept her hips firmly close to his.

"The club where it happened was run by some pretty powerful people, Norma. There's going to be some backlash. It's not like it was before. Even the mayor is a member of this club." Alex told her.

"Is that why Tom didn't lead the news conference?" Norma asked.

"He didn't lead the news conference because it's my case and I asked to lead it." Alex said. "There's going to be some people that will be pissed off at me over this."

"You were defending a girl who'd been assaulted." Norma said. Her pretty face turning into a scowl. "Why would anyone be mad at you?"

"Because they think I'm hurting the reputation of their club." Alex told her.

"Whoever raped that girl and whoever tried to cover it up hurt the reputation of that club." Norma reminded him.

Alex smiled and felt the weight and worry of the coming days shift off of him. His fearless tiger wasn't one to be intimidated by anyone.

"You're right." he agreed.

"I know I'm right." she smiled and her lips met his.

"How'd I get so lucky?" he asked.

"You haven't gotten lucky yet, Deputy Romero." she reminded playfully.

 **So I wanted to discuss some feedback that said Alex was never interested in having babies on the show.**

 **This story is set 13 years before the show and they are both a lot more hopeful about the future and less bitter. None of us are the same people we were 13 years ago. None of us will be the same people we are 13 years from now. Change happens and hopefully for the better.**

 **The purpose of this story is to change Alex, Norma, Dylan and Norman for the better. To make them a real family and to save them from the terrible tragedy of "Bates Motel". In this story, because they met so young, a lot of their fates are circumvented and all the bad things never happened. Keith Summers for example.**

 **Alex wants children with Norma because from the beginning of this story, as well as the show, he's been oddly drawn to Norma Bates. In the show, children never came up because of their age. Norma's children, Dylan and Norman were already grown and Alex was into the idea of having children with such a new relationship.**

 **In this story, they are much younger and the timing seems too perfect not to have children. In this story, he clearly wants to be apart of her life and is envious of Shelby when he saw that this other man was welcomed into Norma's world and Romero was still alone.**

 **But I want to thank you all for any feedback and suggestions you have. I know 80 chapters in feels wearisome after a while. Keep in mind I want this story to take these characters up to the time Norman and Dylan are grown. To give everyone the happy ending they were denied on the show.**

 **That Alex and Norma will be way normal parents and so will their children.**


	81. Chapter 81

81.

~ Norma had dutifully clipped every story she could find on the on going investigation into the Archanium club. A ' _historic and charming little hunting club_ ' as the mayor called it ' _created by our founding fathers_ '. Norma thought the whole write up in the local paper seemed a little one sided.

She didn't like how Alex and the Sheriff's department was so openly attacked in the local paper by the mayor and other higher ups. Claiming that ' _Deputy Romero, like his father before him, has no regard for historic preservation of our town. All things we need to consider when election of our next Sheriff comes around.'_

Norma could care less if Alex was Sheriff of this town. She knew Alex had more civic pride than all the politicians put together. He'd stayed here even after his father went to prison. He'd helped with the flooding when the mayor and other council members evacuated with their family members.

The whole story, the rape case, was turning into less of a sex crime, and more about strategic political moves. At least that was how Norma saw it and she wasn't alone.

~ "George is talking about running for mayor next fall." Christine said without preamble.

Norma had remained on good terms with the tall, extrovert redhead despite not having any feelings for her brother. They go out for coffee once or twice a week and enjoy the chance to catch up and complain about things. Christine actively wanted to be Norma's friend, something that was unusual for Norma. The two couldn't be more different in upbringing, but Christine always treated Norma Bates as though they were on equal ground.

"What? Seriously?" Norma asked.

"After what went down at Achanium?" Christine scoffed. "Mayor Bradly is making a fool of himself defending that stupid 'boys club' and George is perfectly qualified to lead this town into the 21st century. I mean, we're operating under a huge deficit under Mayor Bradly and now he's going after the town's golden boy, Alex Romero? Is he insane?"

Norma had to admit that a lot of people liked Alex right now. His picture had been in the paper, with deputy White, Roth and Graceland again. Also there had been a lengthy interview from a big newspaper in Portland and even a liberal newspaper Norma had never heard of had come down to interview him about the case. Both articles had been very positive even if some of the wealthy club members of town didn't care for Alex Romero right now.

Alex had handled the sudden fame and mixed reviews of his character in stride. He seemed more annoyed with having to make time for the reporters and bothered by the elevation of celebrity status just now. Norma had notice, she would have been blind not to have, that women were giving him more attention to. When they were out together, out to dinner on their date night, or out to the store together, women would pretend she didn't exist at all and talk to Alex as though he belonged to them. Their smiles wide and their chests sticking out almost comically.

Norma and Alex would have a good laugh when Dylan would ask about those strange women later.

"I think George would make a great mayor." Norma said honestly. "He's smart, he's capable."

"I think if he and Alex run on the same platform…" Christine said knowingly. "I mean, people love reform and with Wilson retiring and a young handsome new Sheriff with his pretty new wife coming in. A war veteran who everyone already loves because he's a town hero who rescued babies and rape victims."

"Christine, I don't know if I can do the whole Kennedy wife thing." Norma said with a half hearted laugh.

"If Alex supports George, George supports Alex, they are sure to win and we could make some real change in this town." Christine said. "Will you at least talk to him? I know he's all sexy and stoic but he listens to you."

Norma had to admit that Alex would never listen to Christine or George without her influence. If George, with his liberal ideals and distrust the old money in this town was mayor, Alex might have an easier time as Sheriff. Sybil might finally have the funds she needed to. Wasn't she always complaining about how corrupt Mayor Bradly was?

"I'll talk to him." Norma agreed. "I think you're right. I think it's a good idea."

~ Norma looked over her growing scrapbook of newspaper clippings with an obvious smile on her face. Alex was ridiculously photogenic. Even Graceland knew which camera to look at and when. The police dog never failing to take a good picture herself.

She felt herself flush with pride over Alex's achievements. Not like they were her own, but proud of him for being who he was and all he'd accomplished.

Her doorbell ringing brought her back to reality and she sadly closed her scrapbook and swept off the newspaper timings from her kitchen table.

She looked out the peephole, never answering the door these days unless she knew who it was. The handgun Alex left for her hidden above the kitchen sink where she could reach it easily in an emergency.

"Ed!" Norma exclaimed when she saw the tall stance and large chest of Ed Warren standing awkwardly on her porch. Part of him looking like he was ready to flee the scene.

She opened the door and felt a smile bloom on her face at seeing her friend visit her at home.

"Come in." she offered.

"I'm not bothering you, am I?" Ed asked. He was hesitant to cross over into her home even as Norma waves him inside.

"Ed, come in, it's freezing out!" Norma ordered.

~ "What do you mean Bob Paris is out?" Alex barked.

"Our victim has recanted her testimony." Wilson said calmly.

"Our victim was found locked in a walk in cooler." Alex reminded the Sheriff in a tone that was colder that the north eastern chill that was blowing outside.

"She says the rape didn't happen." Wilson said.

"Her medical report says otherwise." Alex argued. "This is Bob Paris' people harassing our victim."

"Doesn't matter. She's redacted her statement. Made herself an unreliable witness for the state." Wilson sighed.

Alex stood up in frustration.

"So, Bob Paris gets a free pass?" he asked.

"He and his daddy's club got a lot of bad press." Wilson said. "He's got a resisting arrest on his record."

"So do half the hippies in Oregon." Alex said.

"Yeah. Tess has seven on her record. It's how we met in fact. She kicked me right in the knee at a protest at Berkley. It was love at first sight. I ended up wrestling her to the ground and never wanted to let that woman go." Wilson sighed.

"Tom?" Alex asked.

"Right. Sorry." Wilson said bringing himself back to the situation at hand. "You know money talks in this town. You know the case was flimsy to start with, Alex."

"The case wasn't flimsy." Alex argued. "What's it going to take for Bob Paris to be brought to justice? Is he going to have to murder people next?"

"Hopefully not." Wilson said. "Right now the Archanium club is trying to save its' image and you need to work on yours. The mayor wants to vote you out of the running for Sheriff. Don't you read the papers?"

"Yeah, I heard. They want to bring in some well behaved guy who will do as he's told." Alex said.

"Exactly. So we need to think of a way around this." Wilson explained.

~ "Sure I'm not bothering you?" Ed asked nervously when Norma brought him a cup of tea.

"Ed, I'm always glad when we can talk." she said sitting down next to him on the sofa. "Gemma won't be here till six anyway."

"Gemma?" Ed asked. He seemed distracted for some reason and Norma couldn't put her finger on it.

"Gemma Harper. She's our baby sitter. You know her." Norma reminded him.  
"Right!" Ed Warren laughed nervously. "Right. I didn't think she was old enough to babysit."

"She's thirteen. Very responsible and I like how strict she is with Dylan. He's always happy when Alex and I come home. Always begging us not to leave again. I think Norman likes her because she brought him this big jar of pennies once and they spent all night separating them by year. Made Dylan help. He hated it." Norma smiled brightly.

Gemma Harper was a sullen, awkward looking adolescent with large glasses, a massive overbite and unfortunate haircuts. She was also cursed with horrible fashion sense, but was an excellent babysitter. All things that made her highly sought after by every parent in town.

Norma liked her because she knew exactly how to handle her boys. How to soothe Norman without smothering him, and how to not let Dylan walk all over her. Gemma was the only sitter Norma trusted with her children.

"What's going on, Ed?" Norma finally asked when Ed took another sip of tea and spent a long time looking around her cozy and clean little home.

"Well, I… I wanted to talk to you." Ed admitted at last.

"About?"

"About… about what we talked about last week." he said.

"About the arrangements for the wedding." Norma said eagerly. "Alex and I want to keep it small. Just the boys, Tom, Tess, Simon and Sybil. I defiantly want the ceremony to be in the church since Alex's mother was so attached and all."

"Norma." Ed sighed and looked away. He gently sat the tea cup on her coffee table and took a deep breath for courage.

"What is it?" she asked sensing something was wrong.

"I can't marry you." Ed admitted. "I can't perform the ceremony."

Norma leaned away from him as though he'd slapped her.

"Why not?" she asked. It was a silly question. She already knew the answer.

Ed shook his head and refused to look at her.

"Why don't you want to marry us? I thought we were friends." Norma asked. She could feel a crushing heartbreak enter her body. Her dreams of being married to Alex in that beautiful little church were fading away.

Finally, Ed turned to her. His normally kind and handsome face lined with anger.

"I won't marry you to a man like Alex Romero." he said at last.

Norma stood up at the sheer insult Ed had so carelessly slapped across Alex.

"What?" she demanded feeling her own temper rise. "A man like Alex Romero? What the hell, Ed? Why would you say something like that?"

Ed was calm when he stood up to meet her eye to eye.

"Norma, I know Alex may seem like a great guy-"

"Because he is!" Norma barked.  
"But… I don't want to see you hurt. Not ever. I won't take part in seeing you chain yourself to a life with him. Not after what happened to his mother." Ed explained.

"What does his mother have to do with us getting married?" Norma demanded. She felt insulted and ready to defend the woman she'd never met just now.

"His father…" Ed shook his head as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
"Who you said you liked." Norma pointed out.

"Yeah, but he was a really terrible man to his wife and son." Ed reminded her. "He was unfaithful, abusive and manipulative. The woman killed herself just to get away from him and his own son gladly sent him to prison."

"Oh, are we judging people on their parents now?" Norma breathed. "I seem to remember a few terrible things about your parents."

Ed Warren leaned away from her but his gaze remained fixed on her eyes. The two of them seeming to know they had both wounded the other just now.

"If you don't want to marry us, that's fine." Norma said feeling a slow burning hate start to brew for her friend. "It won't change the fact that I am going to marry him."

Ed shook his head and looked disappointed.

"You know, Alex isn't the only man who could love you. Who could honor you. Cherish you." Ed told her.

Norma knew exactly what he was trying to say.

"I know why you came… why you came when Caleb called. Sometimes I wish you hadn't, but I'm glad you did. Proved more than anything that you cared." Ed said.

"I do care." Norma said carefully. "About my friend. I do care."

"I wasn't afraid to die that night." Ed told her. "I've always known that I'd be with my brother again. So I wasn't afraid. I just… had this regret that I'd never be with the woman I loved. That she would never know how much-"

"Ed, I want you to leave." Norma interrupted him. She couldn't take this anymore.

He looked back at her as though she'd hurt him beyond repair.

"I'm sorry, but… you need to leave. I think… I don't think I can be your music director anymore either." she said quickly.  
"Norma, please." Ed said.

"I want you to go." she shook her head.

~ "How was your day?" Alex asked after they had been seated at their little table in the back of the nicest restaurant in town.

"It was fine." Norma lied awkwardly. "Yours?"

"Fine." Alex lied with equal awkwardness.

"I'm… I'm quitting my job at the church." she told him. "We'll have to find another daycare for Norman."

"We can make it work." Alex said reassuringly.

He watched the sad look that passed over her face and waited for her to speak next.

"Ed Warren isn't going to marry us." Norma said. "He told me so today."

"I see." Alex said slowly. His expression remained calm but inside he was angry. Not for himself, but for Norma. She had her heart set on a nice wedding in the little church.

"I just… I wanted to get married there. Your parents and grandparents were married there. I didn't want to break tradition." She shrugged.

She pretended that it didn't bother her, but Alex knew it was upsetting.

"We can make our own traditions." He said easily. "City Hall or an outdoor wedding. Maybe even on Tom's boat."

That at least made her smile.  
"We're not getting married on a fishing boat, Alex." she rolled her eyes.

"Why not?"

"Alex! The boat is called ' _In the Jailhouse Now_ '." She laughed.

"Our grandkids will think it's hysterical." Alex reasoned.

"No, Alex."

"You're the boss." he teased. "It's whatever you want."

She looked back at him and he saw the affection bloom warmly on her face for him.

"I want us to be married." she admitted. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."


	82. Chapter 82

82.

"You must have misunderstood, Mrs. Bates." Deacon Tim said lazily. It was the sort of blame game way she'd been talked to before. When Sam blamed her for his drinking. When police blamed her for the way Sam hurt her. She was always the problem. She was always the one who misunderstood.

"I didn't misunderstand, Tim." Norma corrected him sternly. She never liked the rigid old man who had agreed to meet with her about the wedding. They were in Ed's comfortable office at the back of the church. Monday's were Ed's day off and Norma knew he liked to spend it at home catching up on sports games he'd recorded. As far away from old ladies and responsibilities as he could safely get.

"Now, I'm sure Pastor Warren would agree to marry you and Deputy Romero."

His remark sounded a tad bitter and he refused to make eye contact with Norma. It had a tone that was meant to pacify women. Treating them as if they were children without adult minds at all.

"Perhaps he just wanted to counsel the both of you. Its' common enough. Especially taking into account your collected divorces." Deacon Tim went on.

"I'm a widow." Norma reminded him. "Alex isn't married at all."

"Correct me if I'm wrong… but this will be the **third** marriage for you and the second marriage for your prospective groom." Tim reminded her spitefully. "Widow or not, your late husband has not been gone a year and he was very quickly replaced. By the man who killed him no less. In my day that was cause enough to forbid a decent church wedding. Never mind the divorces or the fact you've been living with this man as though he was already your husband for some time now."

Norma felt her dislike for the crusty old man deepen. At almost 95 years old, he was the oldest member of the church and the most hated according to Ed. Tim Dobbins was born at the beginning of one century and was dying at the end of another. He'd in no way kept up with modern times.

"I think that's our business, Tim." Norma snapped.

"And yet you want to bring it into the church." Tim snapped back. "You damn hippies!"

"Tim!" Ed Warren roared from behind and Norma jumped to see that the pastor had entered his own office without her noticing.

"Thought you were off today, Pastor." Tim said with a bitter look towards the much, MUCH, younger man.

"I think Mrs. Herman needs help in the gardens." Ed said when Norma stood up to leave. Tim Dobbins, vile old creature, lumbered past Ed Warren who stood between him and Norma Bates.

They both waited until the hunchback fiend was gone before Ed asked if she was okay.

"I'm fine." Norma breathed. She could still smell the sourness of Deacon Tim's breath in the air.

"Why were you talking to Tim Dobbins, Norma? He's the most horrible person in the world My Aunt used to tell me he caused the _Titanic_ sinking and I believed her." Ed asked.

Norma was about to tell Ed off, she was still angry at him after all, when she realized he was teasing her.

" _Titanic_ sinking?" she asked rolling her eyes.

"She told me he killed the Romanov family to." Ed said conspiratorially.

"Oh, Deacon Tim is really Rasputin?" Norma asked.

"I thought so till I was… lets see… about last week or so." Ed said.

Norma didn't want to laugh. She wasn't ready to forgive Ed Warren just yet.

"I actually came here to see if Alex and I could be married by someone else in this church. Since you weren't willing." she admitted sadly. Her eyes fixed on the ground.

"Oh." Ed said soberly.

"Yeah." Norma said.

"The church charter says that as lead pastor, I have the authority to grant or refuse all marriages in this church. All weddings must be performed by the head pastor unless a replacement is deemed acceptable. I would still have to give my permission though." Ed explained. "We get a lot of requests for weddings as you know. Because of the location and the general charm of this church. I turn down at least ten a month."

"If we have a justice of the peace perform the wedding, can we have it here?" Norma asked.  
Ed was silent for a moment and she knew the answer.

"Why? Why don't you want us to be happy?" she demanded.

"Norma, he will break your heart." Ed accused sharply. "He will. If you don't believe me go out to that cemetery and the proof is his own mother. She married a man just like Alex Romero once and he turned out to be the most corrupt, hateful person in this town. I don't want to hurt you and I won't have anything to do with you marrying that man."

"Alex isn't like his father." Norma argued.

"How do you know? Have you met him?" Ed asked. "Have you gone out to meet the Old Bear?"

"I'm nothing like my parents." Norma shrugged with mock indifference. "My mother tried to murder my baby sister in a house fire because she thought she was possessed by the devil or something. My dad used to beat me and my brother half to death. Our parents let us starve and go without proper heat or running water for most of our lives."

She saw the saddened look on Ed's face and tried not to let the trauma of her childhood resonate too deeply.

"You told me, you swore you were nothing like your parents, Ed. Why would Alex be like his?" Norma asked.

"He's on the same path." Ed argued. "Its' history repeating itself."

"They are two different men!" Norma gasped in anger and disbelief.

Ed shook his head. Clearly unsold on the idea Alex was a good man.

"Alex is going to be my husband." Norma said willfully. "We can be married here where his parents and grandparents were married, or we can go down to City Hall."

"I hear the waiting list at City Hall is much shorter." Ed told her.

She felt personally wounded by the remark and grabbed the straps of her purse to leave.

"Are you really quitting as our music director?" Ed asked suddenly.

"Are you really trying to prevent me from marrying the man I love?" Norma spat.

"I only ask because Norman and Dylan are still welcome in our daycare and you're still welcomed here-"

Ed Warren didn't get the chance to finish because of the hard slap of Norma's purse made a sharp and unexpected contact with the broad side of his shoulder. Something that naturally didn't hurt him, but he looked back at Norma in surprise.

"You!" Norma fumed and hit him over and over again with her purse that thankfully had heavy objects only a mother would carry in her large bag. Namely, Norman's little toy cars and a change purse full of coins she never had time to empty. Collectively they made a very satisfying whack against Ed Warren's large body when she hit him over and over again.

"Norma!" Ed scolded trying to dodge a blow and yet gracefully absorbing one at the same time.

"You're being-" he ducked away from her as a swipe of her purse nearly hit his head. "You're being childish!"

"Childish!" Norma spat and hit him again before Ed was able to grab ahold of her arms and fight her off, successfully pinning her arms over her head before backing her up against the wall of his office.

"Let me go!" Norma fired angrily.

"You need to calm down!" Ed breathed. His own excitement over being struck repeatedly in such an emasculating way was no doubt upsetting.

Norma tried to push herself free but pushing against Ed Warren was like pushing against a brick wall. His build, hidden beneath an innocent and harmless looking sweater vests and button up shirts, was firm and very solid.

Someone of her petite stature against his height and muscle tone would never win.

Norma realized she'd lost this round and tried to relax under the firm grim he maintained on her wrists and hands.

"I'm sorry." Ed breathed as he still kept her hands poised helplessly over her head. "I'm sorry."

"Let me go!" she cried in frustrated futility. She didn't want to be here. Didn't want to be here with Ed Warren and she didn't accept his apology. She hated the way tears always came down when she was angry or upset. Hated herself for crying when she wanted to be Alex's fearless tiger.

"Norma." Ed pleaded and she felt his breath touch her lips.

"Don't touch me." she tried to pull away.

Ed ignored her and his lips grazed over hers just as he released her hands. She tentatively tired to push him away, realizing that she could never overpower him, but if she told him to, he would stop.

"Please." Ed whispered softly meting her lips and kissing away the tears. His hands, large hands that were gentle and soft were smoothing her hair back and Norma felt her world go slightly tipsy.

How easy it would be to fall just now. Just like Ed had wanted her to. Abandoned Alex and their plans for a happy life together. To devote her life to Ed and his honest livelihood that wouldn't bring her danger. Ed was the kind of man, of course he was, who would marry her and be a good husband. Be an excellent father and she would never feel neglected for affection from him.

Still, her body didn't burn for Ed the way it did for Alex. It didn't leap with excitement when Ed touched her. Her skin didn't become hot when she knew he wanted her and although she felt that giddy rush of delight now, she knew that was fleeting.

A life with Ed would always feel like she was living a lie. Pretending to be someone she wasn't. A better person than she actually was. She could never be the wife of a Pastor. At least with Alex, she could always be honest. She could always be herself. Alex always saw right through her and accepted her, faults and all.

"Don't you touch me." Norma said coldly and pushed him off her with a rudeness she wasn't used to expressing.

Ed seemed winded at having been so close to what he wanted, and then to be suddenly pushed off with such fierceness.

"Norma." he started to say.

"Don't you ever touch me again." Norma said and picked up her purse, leaving his office for good.

~ "You want to tell me why George Heldens was calling me for some kind of lunch appointment?" Alex asked that evening.

Norma had been in a strange mood all day after she left Ed and had forgotten all about Christine and George and their political ambitions.

"He's running for Mayor." Norma sighed. "Wanted you to endorse him or something."

"Shit, Norma." Alex sighed and glanced quickly at Dylan and Norman playing outside. The boys were well out of ear shot but Norma had a policy about swearing around 'Little Ears'.

"Mayor Bradly has run unopposed for…" Alex seemed to search his memory. "For as long as I can remember. "And before that he was a city councilman."

"He created a lot of money problems according to Sybil." Norma offered plainly. The old dragon was always complaining about Mayor Bradly and his priorities. How there was money to throw parties on the tax payers dime, but not to repave roads.

"She says Mayor Bradly is at some fancy golf club every weekend." Norma reminded him. "He wasn't even here during the flooding. Not like you were."

"Norma, you don't want to mess with these people." Alex warned her. "You don't know what their capable of."

"What? You're going to be sheriff." Norma said with a shrug. "If George becomes the new Mayor, then thats a good thing. He's very progressive."

"I'm not saying he wouldn't make a good Mayor, I'm saying it would put a target on his back, and mine." Alex said.

Norma looked back at her chicken marsala and couldn't summon the energy to care anymore.

"Fine, Alex." she said in frustration. "You know, you work so hard to keep this town honest. You saw your own father go to prison, you put scum behind bars and you've never been afraid of them. I would have thought you'd have jumped at the chance for a friend."

"George is not my friend." Alex reminded her.

"He could be." Norma said. "Don't you ever get tired of being so stoic?"

"Yeah, well it beats being dead." Alex told her sourly. "You learn not to run your mouth off too much in this line of work. Tom taught me that."

"What to be contrary?" Norma asked. She was feeling a little cranky now that the end of the day was near.

"I thought you liked that about me." Alex reminded her as she started to set the table.

She glanced his way and saw that smile flight across his face that she tried to ignore.

"I get it." she admitted. "Sometimes it feels good just to be angry a people. Today I saw Ed Warren at the church, ended up hitting him with my purse a bunch of times when he still refused to marry us."

She was slightly embarrassed about the whole thing now. It was never a good thing for a grown woman to lose her temper like that.

"The really, really heavy one?" Alex asked with a laugh.

"Yeah." she sighed.

"That's my girl." Alex smiled approvingly.

She didn't want his approval for attacking Ed, her friend Ed, but it was amusing that Alex admired her for it.

"He tried to kiss me." Norma admitted suddenly.

The words had slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them.

The air in the room seemed to have changed. Alex's face becoming darker as his focus turned back to her and Norma felt her heart race with fear.

"He tried to." she repeated quickly. "I… I left."

"Ed Warren tried to kiss you?" Alex asked. "Why would he do that?"

"He… I think…" Norma shrugged.  
"Did he say he has feelings for you?" Alex asked harshly. His words coming out like daggers.

"No." Norma lied. It was a half truth. Ed never said the words. His actions were enough.

"But he tried to kiss you." Alex said.

"Yes." Norma breathed.

"What did you do?"

"I told him not to touch me."

"And?"

"He let me go."

"He let you go?" Alex asked. The Sheriff's Deputy took a moment to collect himself.  
"Should I not have told you?" Norma asked worriedly.

"No, I needed to know this." Alex sighed.

He looked back at her and Norma felt slightly sick.

"Were you really just there to talk about the wedding?" he asked. He seemed slightly wounded when he spoke.

"Yes. I was there to talk to that horrible Deacon Tim about having a JP perform the wedding at the church. Ed was supposed to be off on Mondays. It's why I was there today." Norma explained slowly. "Then, Ed showed up and… we were alone in his office and he was saying how you were going to break my heart and how you were just like your father and I was hitting him with my purse. Then he pinned me against the wall and tried to kiss me, and I was crying because I was so angry at him. Then I told him not to touch me and he… he let me go." Norma finished. She was a little breathless and slightly close to tears, but she felt cleaned out now that the truth was free.

Alex still looked hurt and angry. Norma wanted to back away when he stepped closer to her, his hands coming to rest on with either side of her face.

"I guess Ed Warren picked the wrong lady to mess with." Alex said with a little grin.

Suddenly, it was like a curse had been broken. All the tension in the air was gone and she could breathe and laugh again.

"Yeah." Norma smiled. She felt that laughter, that hope and joy flow back into her body.

"I hear City Hall has a short waiting list for marriages." Norma sighed happily feeling Alex's affectionate gaze on her.

"I could pull few stings. Get us to the head of the line." he said.

"Just immediate family there." Norma reminded him. "Then a nice dinner out."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Alex smiled.

He let go of her and she felt her heart flutter in a way it never did with Ed.

"I think you're right to. I think maybe I should talk with George." he said.

"I think that's a good idea." Norma said with a smile.


	83. Chapter 83

83.

~ "No!" Norman shouted and glared at his mother. The family had gathered together for dinner when Norma made the announcement that the boys would no longer be attending the church's daycare.

"Norman!" she gasped in shock. Her youngest wasn't like other children. He never said no to her. He wasn't a willful child who disobeyed her. Norman was always good about going along with whatever needed to happen and didn't question it.

"I don't want a new daycare!" Norman argued hatefully. His blue eyes, somehow changing into a darker and more menacing hue, glinted back at her. For a moment, she saw her own father in that look. That deranged look of someone who would take pleasure in hurting someone and not feel an ounce of sympathy for what kind of damage they'd done to another person.

"Well, we don't always get what we want." Norma told him.

"Yes, we do." Norman spat argumentatively.

"Norman, we're finding you a new daycare and we're done taking about it." Norma said.

"No!" her youngest yelled.

Norma looked at Alex who seemed just as perplexed as she was. Neither one of them was used to these outbursts from such a mild mannered little boy.

"Norman." Alex started to say calmly.

"No!" Norman shouted again and with a flurry of anger, threw his fork on the floor, jumped out of his chair and ran for his room.

"Norman!" his mother cried in shock.

She was about to stand up and chase him down when Alex intervened.

"Just let him go. He's having a temper tantrum, Norma. Don't feed the beast." Alex said.

"I don't get it." Norma sighed sitting back in her chair. "Why is he's so attached all the sudden? He hasn't even been there for a few months. He didn't throw this big of a fit when we took him out of the old place."

"He likes this girl." Dylan offered up helpfully. He'd been eating his chicken and watching the whole scene unfold as if it was a television show.

"What girl?" Alex asked glancing at Norma who seemed confused and annoyed now.

"Emma Decody. She was at the Halloween party and her and Norman are best friends now or something." Dylan shrugged. "They play together in that little pretend kitchen at the daycare all the time."

"They play house together?" Norma asked. Both her hands went over her heart for fear it might break.

"I don't know." Dylan shrugged. "They won't let me play and it's always just them. I think he doesn't want to leave the church daycare because of her. Emma had medical problems though. That's what I heard one of the teachers say. Said she's going to die soon."

"What?" Alex asked. "Why would they said that?"

"She has some kind of breathing problem. Something with a funny name, I don't remember." Dylan explained lazily. "None of the kids want to play with her and they make fun of her because she's gonna be worm food soon."

Norma looked in horror at Alex.

~ "We can't pull them out of the church's daycare." Norma sighed that evening. It was late and she felt exhausted and emotionally drained. Never mind that she'd bought a new night dress just for Alex to enjoy, she didn't have the heart to wear it tonight. Besides, it was too cold.

"Norman has a friend. Do you know how hard it is for him to make friends?" Norma asked cuddling up to Alex in her warmest set of pajamas.

It was freezing outside now and the little house seemed to shake with each new attack of winter winds. The cold boring into every available space of their home till all they could do now was bundle up each night in warm clothing. Alex being the only one brave enough to get out of the nice warm beds in the morning turn up the thermostat.

The furnace in the little house needed to be replaced after this upcoming winter.

"He's so shy and… vulnerable." Norma said.

"Worries me that the other kids tease that poor girl like that." Alex grumbled looking over files from work. "I met Will Decody a few times. His wife is a… well a total lush, but he seemed to have his daughter's best interests at heart. Shame what's happening to them."

Norma shivered a little but not from the cold. Alex had filled her in on young Emma's condition. A degenerative illness that meant Emma would find it harder and harder to breathe as she got older. Not that she would get older. Most people with CF didn't make it to their 30's and they were very sick all their lives. She never really thought about how lucky she was. Her boys were born robust and healthy. Especially Dylan.

With everything leading up to his creation, it was amazing that he was so normal, smart and perfect in every way. That he never got sick and despite the abuse he'd suffered at the hands of Sam, and Shelby, he was still a functional child without any of the emotional scars other kids had.

"Yeah, those other kids are jerks." Norma agreed wishing Alex would stop reading his stupid police reports, turn off the lights and cuddle with her a little. She knew with Alex, cuddling would lead to kissing, kissing out lead to making out and that would all go into a very enjoyable evening that would leave her as contented as a kitten.

"So what do we do?" she asked wishing she hadn't glanced the autopsy photo from one file. A dead girl who's skin was blue and black around her fingers and toes.

"Leave him in the church daycare." Alex sighed. "We both know Norman doesn't like change. It's not good to move him out of a place he feels safe a secure in. The daycare is small and he has a friend there."

"What about Ed?" Norma asked when Alex signed off on the last form, folded the file back up and put it in the leather bag he used for all his work papers. The initials S.A.R. were faded on the vintage looking messenger bag, but they still glinted in the light.

"What about him?" Alex asked.

"What about him?" Norma laughed when Alex crawled back into bed with her and turned off the light. "What if he tries to make a pass at me?"

"Just hit him with your purse again." Alex said easily. "We'll get a brick from the garden. Really weigh it down this time."

"Alex!" Norma scolded.

"If you'd hit me with that purse, I'd think twice about wanting you." Alex admitted. "What the hell is in it?"

"Normal stuff." Norma shrugged. "Norman's little toy cars in a ziplock, my day planner, my coin purse, wallet, umbrella, cosmetics bag, hand sanitizer, candy if the boys need it, gum, the latest issue of Good Housekeeping, a coloring book and crayons for Norman-"

"Surprised you didn't kill him with all that when you hit him." Alex mused.

"You know, when you're a mom to two boys under the age of eight, lets see what you have in your purse." Norma said smartly.

"Well, it wouldn't be fair to the church if you just quit as music director." Alex said after he had enough of teasing her. "You won't be easy to replace."

"I know, but I don't want to be there alone with Ed anymore. Not after what happened."

"You won't." Alex assured her.

She snuggled under the covers next to him.

"You have an idea?" She asked.

"Yeah." Alex admitted sadly. "I'll go there with you."

"Really?" Norma asked hopefully.

"The balcony has room enough for two. I used to sit up there with my mom all the time." Alex admitted.

"For all three sermons?" Norma asked skeptically.

"Unless you don't want me to." Alex told her.  
"No, I want you to." Norma said happily. She was pulling on Alex's flannel shirt, wanting his body weight on top of hers.

"I mean, if it's inconvenient for you." Alex teased when she tried to kiss him. The warmth of his heavy body making her feel especially comforted and protected just now.

"Alex…" she purred softly pulling down her pajama bottoms as he ran a hand up her shirt. The electric feel of his fingers caressing her bare flesh made her shiver.

"Just think." Alex smiled when she breathed in the smell of the aftershave that still lingered on his skin even at the end of the day. "This time next year, we'll be celebrating Christmas in our own home."

"We still have to get Dylan that bike." Norma reminded him. Her legs spreading wide at the idea of Alex teaching her son to ride. The very thought of him as a good father excited her beyond measure.

"I know." he assured her. His words coming out breathy and she could feel the hardness growing. "I've got it at the farm already. Going to surprise him Christmas morning."

"What about Norman?" she cried softly. Her hips bucking up to meet the hardness she needed so badly just now.

"It's a surprise." he assured her. "You'll see."

"Thought we agreed on more legos." Norma said kissing his neck hungrily and pushing down his pajama bottoms. Happy to feel he was already erect for her. Their breathing taking on a quick and hurried tempo as their hips moved in unison together.

"You'll have to see." he teased stripping off her night shirt and exposing her bare breasts to the night chill. His warm body quick to cover her back up again and she felt herself starving for him to enter her.

"Alex?" she moaned helplessly when all he would do was torment her with kissing and touching. Never willing to satisfy her in the way she so desperately needed.

"Please?" she whimpered as he took his time while running his fingers between her folds. Her body jumping with each electric current his touch gave her. Exciting her and never giving her what she really wanted.

"I can't wait till you're my wife." he said darkly and she felt him slide his member inside her. Her body happily, greedily, taking him in till he was resting on top of her again. Their bodies rocking gently as though they were at sea.

"Ed Warren…" he panted. "He can never have you."

"Never." she agreed feeling that beautiful vertigo pull at her body. Forcing her to grip harder onto her lover. She could never experience this with Ed. Her body never burst with longing like it did with Alex. She was never happier to see anyone than she was to see Alex. Never able to fight with anyone and then makeup with anyone as easily as she was with Alex. Ed couldn't give her what this man did. Give her that feeling of contentment and safety. Of happiness and always feeling in control.

She felt he lover thrust particularly hard and had to brace herself against the headboard as Alex maneuvered more forcefully.

"No one can have me but you." she whimpered softly and this only seemed to encourage him on. "No one but you."

His thrusting becoming more and more needful, yet his hands were still gentle when he held her down. His profanities growling into her ear till she felt her body jump with sudden, unstoppable climax.

She tried to fight it, and him off, but her lover, that beast, wouldn't allow it. His needs having to be satiated, his mate needing to be mated with, he forced her to orgasam.

"Alex!" she panted and felt her body betray her. Her inner walls contracting hard till she was afraid she might lose her mind.

Alex kept his speed and deep, powerful thrusts on point. Hitting her in exactly the right spots that he seemed to know would bring her closer and closer to the edge.

"Please!" she cried out suddenly and let herself slip away. Her mind leaving her body till she no longer cared what happened to it. Her lover taking her, and she could feel herself drift into another world away from him. Looking down on them both and thinking they looked like animals together.

With a final groan, he came back to himself and collapsed on top of her. His breathing fast and hard as though he'd run for miles.

"Are you okay?" he panted finally rolling off her just as Norma came back to herself. Her body feeling slightly sore, but complexity satisfied.  
"Yes." she smiled despite herself. "Yes, I'm fine."

~ "This isn't over." Alex warned Tom.

"Our witness, our victim, is **dead** , Deputy." The Sheriff said. "You saw the reports. Her throat was cut and her body was found in the bay yesterday."

"Bob Paris is behind this." Alex insisted. "He knew that our victim was still alive she might testify one day."

"Bob Paris had an alibi. He was with Lee Berman all night at the Archanium club." Wilson said taking back the file he'd lent to Romero the night before. The discolored corpse of their rape victim was found in the water by a local fisherman just a day after she changed her story.

"That's convenient." Alex said bitterly.

"Not for us." Tom added. "For now, you need to let this go. Bob Paris has been out since the victim changed her story. We have no case against him. Do not harass him, Alex."

"What makes you think I would do that?" Romero asked.

"Because you're dying to." Tom Wilson told him. "But that's the kind of hot headed cowboy antics your father was fond of and it's going to backfire on you."

"Bob Paris had one of his goons harass our victim till she agreed not to testify. Now she ends up dead? We're okay with that?" Alex asked darkly.

Tom glanced up at his young Deputy.

"Alex, we both know what kind of man Bob Paris is." Tom said slowly.

"A mortal one." Alex said bitterly.

"A man with connections." Tom corrected gently. "He's already making it hard for you career wise. I'd hate to see him try and really hurt you. Try and hurt your family."

Alex's thoughts immediately went to Norma and the boys.

"You think Bob Paris would come after my family before he'd come after me?" Alex asked with a forced laugh.  
"I think Bob Paris is the type of man who would hurt your family and never touch you. Just leave you with the knowledge that he hurt them. That he took something from you that can't be replaced." Tom explained. "You can't shoot the entire world, Alex. That was your father's way."

"Maybe it was the right way." Alex bit back.

"We will get Bob Pairs. Get him and his little entourage that hurt that girl. But we won't compromise ourselves, son. Understood?" Tom asked.

It felt like a bitter pill to swallow. Never had Alex felt so sympathetic to how his father ran this town before.

"Understood." he sighed.


	84. Chapter 84

84.

~ "Norma." Ed felt a giddy rush of happiness touch him when he spotted her that Saturday evening for choir practice.

She was in a baby blue dress with matching shoes that seemed a little too spartan for winter, but the color was becoming to her and he skin glowed as if she'd been out in the sun all week. A warm smile bloomed on her face so warmly that it took Ed's breath away and he knew that their fight, that awful fight he wished he could take back, was forgotten.

"Hi, Ed." she smiled and brushed her hair back with a carless flip of her hand. Her eyes sparkling brightly as she looked at him with that radiant smile of perfect teeth.

"I'm glad you're hear. I… I was worried you wouldn't come back." Ed said looking around him but seeing they were suddenly alone in the vestibule.

"Of course I came back." she said easily. "Can we talk?"

Her face was practically luminous just now and he couldn't look away from her flawless skin or the way that baby blue shift dress hugged her body so well.

"Of course." Ed said quickly. He fumbled past her, still not used to his large body after all these years, and managed to make it to his office with only knocking over a few stacks of papers.

"Come in. Come in." he said with a quick smile. Norma, her own footsteps graceful and barely stirring anything but the air when she entered the room behind him. Her eyes fixating on him with sniper like precision. She turned around as graceful as a ballerina dancer and that enchanting smile was back on her face again.

"Ed, I came to apologize." she said with her angelic like voice.

"Oh." Ed quickly shut the door so none of the noisy old biddies that came standard to every church would overhear. "No, it's me that needs to apologize, Norma."

"Ed, let me finish."

"Ok." Ed said quickly. Eager for her to go on. Happy that she was just here with him alone.

"Ed." Norma sighed and her smile fell away and even when she was sad she was cursed with beauty.

She looked up at him and seemed ready to cry.

"Ed, you were right." she admitted.

"About what?" Ed asked stupidly.

"About everything. About Alex. He… oh, Ed… he left me and the boys the other day. Ran off with someone else. I should have listened to you." she said tragically.

Ed wanted to shout with joy but managed to hold it in.

"Norma, I'm so sorry." he breathed.

"I thought he loved me." she cried. It wasn't an ugly cry. More like the crying that actresses in old Hollywood used to do. That pretty little sobbing that didn't distort their face at all.

Ed bit his tongue and allowed her to go on. He wanted all the details about what Alex had done. He also wanted to rush to her, hold her and tell her everything would be okay. That dark part of him delighted with this turn of events in his favor.

"We were going to be together…" she sniffed into a vintage cloth handkerchief. "Now, now, he's going to have some other woman in our house. The boys are heartbroken to."

"The boys still have you." Ed said stoically. "Nothing will ever change that."

"They wanted a father." Norma moaned miserably. "I owed them one."

"The boys still have you." Ed repeated. The next words were like a movie script. Something played out to perfection. "They have you, and they have me."

His angel's face brightened and the tears were gone as she smiled at him.

"Ed." she sighed in relief.

"It's going to be okay." Ed told her honestly and felt his heart leap with joy when she rushed into his arms. He could hear the music swell as they made contact. That rich music of the gold era of Hollywood that signified a happy ending between the two hapless romantics. This would be the part of the movie where the 'THE END' would appear on the screen and everyone in the audience would be very satisfied that the clumsy but lovable preacher finally got the beautiful girl. It had been a thrilling romantic movie hadn't? Complete with a dark and handsome rival who looked like he would take her away forever. Even the leading lady hitting him with her purse had thrown the whole potential for romance in doubt. But now everything was okay. They were together and soon they would settle in a quite little house and raise their family together. Two boys and perhaps a little girl one day. God willing.

Norma hugged and kissed him as the music played distractingly loud.  
"Ed, I know I should have told you this sooner… but I love-"

~ Ed Warren opened his eyes when the music on his alarm clock couldn't be ignored anymore. He was clutching his pillow so hard, if it had really been Norma Bates, he would have hurt her.

He angrily slapped the off button on the alarm and fell back into the blankets of warmth and the happy dream world of Norma coming to him and telling him how Alex had left her and that she'd been a fool. How he could be her white night and rescue her.

He rolled over with the pillow under him and felt the sadness creeping through his bones at the realization the dream wasn't real. His morning erection softening at the idea his angel wasn't in the same bed as him and they wouldn't be sharing a marital bed after all.

He tried to recapture the dream. The image of his angel in that baby blue dress that was foolishly too thin for winter. How she smiled and how she cried when she talked about Alex leaving her.

If only Alex would leave her. If only he would go away. Norma would be sad, so would the boys, but Ed would comfort them. He would be there. He would provide for them a stable home and be a positive role model for the boys. Not to mention a loving husband to Norma.

He would marry her right away of course. None of this living together in sin Alex was doing with her. Ed was too much of a gentleman to say anything, but he didn't approve. If Alex really loved her, he should have married her long before moving into her home.

Not Ed. He would marry her as soon as possible. Have his mentor, Paster Hinkley marry them in a small service. Then, with Norma as his wife, he'd be happy. No more sad and lonely bachelor existence of single meals and screwing up his own laundry.

His aunts house, which she'd left him after she died, was still in good shape and he'd kept it just as she left it. It was in town near the church. None of this miles outside of civilization nonsense on a farm like Alex wanted. Not for his wife. Not for Norma Warren.

~ Norma sensed Alex's unease at being back in the church his mother was so connected to after so long. He brought her a cup of coffee and they waited for the service to start.

"Ed doesn't allow food and drink up here." Norma reminded him with a grin and set her coffee well away from the richly inland organ.

"I know." Alex said. "Why I did it."

"Rebel scum." Norma teased and sipped a little out of politeness. They had, as a family last night, exposed the boys to 'Star Wars'. A movie that had thrilled the boys even if the plot was little over both their heads. Now, Christmas would be easier since they were turning the boys into 'Star Wars' fans and could get them action figures.

Alex reclined on the adjoining seat and tried not to look at the sign marking all the music directors of the church since it's founding. His own mother's name on that plaque clearly visible because it was still so new.

"I used to sit up here with my mom during services." Alex admitted at last. "I liked it because we could see everyone but they couldn't see us."

"That's why I like it." Norma admitted.

"My mother was very dedicated to the church." Alex sighed. "She had faith."

Norma wanted to change the subject. It was too much to ask Alex to be here and to talk about his mother.  
"Did you see Norma with his little girlfriend Emma?" she said brightly. "They were sitting in the little play house together. Isn't she pretty? Those big brown eyes of hers."

"Yeah." Alex smiled. "Yeah, she's a heartbreaker."

"You know you're going to have to give Norman and Dylan the talk pretty soon." Norma told him.

"What talk?" Alex asked innocently.

"THE talk and don't pretend you don't know what I was talking about, deputy." she scolded.

"Oh THAT talk." Alex said lazily. "Yeah, Dylan. I figure he can just pick it up from movies and stuff like I did."

"Alex."  
"We'll tell Norman he was hatched from an egg. He might believe that over the truth."

"Alex!" Norma giggled.

"I will." he promised. "I'll set them both down today and talk to them."

"You'll use the right words and everything? I have a book Doctor Bloch gave me." Norma said anxiously.

"I'll just be honest." Alex said with a shrug.

"Don't traumatize them."

"Not even a little?"

Norma was about to tell him off, remembered she was in church and thought better about it.

The creaking of the stairs below took both of their attention away from each other and they waited for the interloper to reach the balcony. She wasn't surprised when Ed's large frame barely wedged out of the little door. His face happy and smiling when he saw her.

"Norma." he said. "I was worried you wouldn't come today. I had called Mrs. Muller to fill in."

"If you want me to leave I will." Norma said.

"No." Ed said quickly. "No, of course not."

"Hi, Ed." Alex said from his tucked away seat that was out of immediate view.

The pastor turned in surprise to see Alex there.  
"Alex." he said with a forced smile. "I'm… I'm really glad you're here."

"Are you?" Alex questioned.  
"We wanted to keep Norman and Dylan in the daycare." Norma interrupted. She could feel the tension in the air between the two of them and had to put a stop to it.

"Of course." Ed said looking back to her.

"If you don't want me to be your music director anymore-"

"No, no!" Ed said quickly. "It would be impossible to replace you. Christmas is coming and it's nothing but music for the next month."

Ed looked distracted and turned to Alex.

"Deputy." he nodded and turned to leave.

"Pastor." Alex nodded.

Norma waited until Ed left before she scolded Alex.

"Be nice." she warned.

"I was very nice. I'm always nice." Alex said with a little grin. The kind of grin that reminded her of a mischievous school boy who'd been up to no good. She could picture Alex as a child when he grinned like that. Perhaps he'd gotten into trouble for pulling a girl's hair or pushing another kid on the playground. That little grin coming out when he'd been caught and the school teachers not having the heart to punish him because he was adorable even then.

Alex stood up and casually sat next to her at the piano. The rustling of people below telling her service would start soon, but for now, they were totally alone.

"You have nothing to worry about with Ed." she reminded him.

"It's not Ed I'm worried about." Alex sighed. He grasped her hand in his and she allowed him to play with her fingers. Her hands always seeming to fascinate him.

"What then?"

"You ever feel like it's going to fall apart?" Alex asked. His concentration on her hands alone.

"I used to." Norma admitted. "Before I met you."

Alex smiled but his happiness faded.  
"I worry." he admitted. "I worry that I have so much to lose now."

"You're not going to lose us." Norma smiled. "I told you."

She sensed Ed wasn't what Alex was talking about. That there was something else he wasn't telling her.

"Alex what's happening?" she asked.

"I won't let anything happen to you." Alex promised suddenly. "To you or the boys. You mean everything to me."

Norma wasn't sure what he meant, but knew he wasn't ready to talk about it. Knew him well enough that he wouldn't talk about it.

"I know." she whispered.

Her hands went to his face and pulled him closer to her. She could feel his nose and breath tickle her hair as he tried to nuzzle closer to her. He was about to kiss her when the timer on her piano went off signaling the start of services.


	85. Chapter 85

85.

~ Dylan looked at Alex as if he were being lied to. Norman seemed equally as skeptical.

"Do you boys have any questions?" Alex asked when both children stared blankly back at him with their mother's blue eyes. In the end, he had resorted to the book Norma had gotten from Doctor Bloch about procreation to explain things to the boys. He'd started small, over a plate of cookies and milk in the kitchen he told them the correct and unflinching names for boy parts and girl parts.

He unapologetically explained that it took a male and female to create offspring and this was true in all lifeforms. That humans formed much more serious attachments to each other than most animals.

He said, without hesitation, that procreation was called sex and there was nothing wrong or bad about it.

"Mom said sex hurts." Dylan said defensively.

"What?" Alex thought he misheard. "When did she say that?"

His mind went back to all the times he'd been with Norma and if he'd ever hurt her. Maybe it was some memory Dylan was thinking of from Sam. Some conversation that ' _little ears_ ' weren't supposed to hear.

"That girl on T.V. the one you saved? Mom said someone hurt her in a bad way. They had sex with her and hurt her." Dylan explained.

"Is she gonna have a baby?" Norman asked seeming much more interested int he cookies his mother baked than this conversation.

"No, she's not going to have a baby, Norman." Alex said quickly. He tried not to think about the girl's body being pulled from the bay a few days ago. All because she'd been a victim.

He gathered his thoughts and turned to Dylan.

"Son, what happened to that girl was something called rape. It's when a man forces a girl, or even another man, to have sex with him. It's very violent and very wrong. It's always wrong to hurt a girl and it's especially wrong to hurt a girl like that or to force her to do something against her will. Do you understand?" He kept his voice firm, yet calm. As though he were talking to a suspect. It was important, at this age, the boys learn to never hurt women.

Both children's eyes widened and they nodded.

"If I ever find out you've so much as pulled a girl's hair or hit a girl, then it's serious." Alex warned. "I've put men, bigger than men in prison for hurting women and I'll lock the both of you up if I've found out you've hurt a girl sexually."

Dylan seemed slightly terrified, but Norman wasn't phased at all. Clearly this threat didn't apply to him. Norman Bates wasn't the type who would grow up to hurt women.

"Do you understand that a woman has to be want to have sex with a man? It's important that you know that." Alex said.

Dylan and Norman nodded.

"Just because she has sex with a man doesn't make her bad either. I know a lot of people think that, but it's not true. Do you understand?" he explained.

Dylan and Norman nodded.

"Do you have any questions?" Alex asked at last.

"Are you and mother going to have babies when you get married?" Norman asked. His expression skeptical again.

"Maybe." Alex told him. "We've talked about it."

"You don't have to." Dylan said defensively. "I mean… we're fine with just us."

"Dylan." Alex grinned. "If your mother and I have a baby together, it won't mean we don't love you."

"That's what Toby Russel's step dad said and then his mom had his half sister and they like her way more." Dylan pouted.

"That's because she's a baby and need's more attention." Alex explained. "If Toby Russel was as mature as you are, he would understand that and help out with his little sister instead of complaining."

Dylan looked confused by this explanation that was also a compliment.

"I know that if your mom and I have children, we can count on both of you to help out and be good big brothers." Alex said.

"Yeah." Dylan admitted.

"No." Norman said.

"No?" Alex asked.

"I don't want mother to have a baby. I'm her baby." Norman explained.

~ "He said that?" Norma grinned that night in bed.

"Sure did." Alex sighed pulling her closer to him. His hands having that forceful need about them. Strong things that easily maneuvered her to where he wanted her to be.

"He said he was your baby." Alex sighed.

"Well, he is my baby." Norma admitted. "When he was born, it felt like God had given me a second chance. That, after all of these terrible things, I had this perfect little boy."

"What about Dylan?" Alex asked.

"Dylan was three and butting his head against the wall, screaming all the time and driving me crazy. I was so scared he wasn't normal." she admitted in a whisper.

"Well, he turned out fine." Alex told her. "I put the fear into both of them about hurting girls."

"Good." Norma spat. "Tell them that you'll arrest both of them if they hurt girls."

"I did." he assured her.

"I don't want my sons to grow up to be the kind of men…" her voice trailed off and Alex knew what she was about to say next. She didn't want her sons to be the type of men their father's had been.

"They won't be." Alex told her. "I promise."

~ It was almost four o'clock when Alex got the call about the car accident. Deputy White and Russ had called him directly and told him to come down to the emergency room.

"They boys are both fine." Russ had said in her calm voice. "But Norma was in the front seat and she was taken by ambulance to the emergency room."

Alex didn't ask how the accident had happened, where it had happened or who else was involved, he hung up the phone, left his paperwork incomplete and abounded Graceland on her dog bed.

The large police dog barking at him to take her with him as he grabbed his coat and left the station.

~ "Deputy." the desk clerk said recognizing him right away. One of the perks of living in the small town you'd gown up in.

"Norma Bates. Where is she?" Alex demanded out of breath. He driven with the overhead lights flashing through four red lights just to get here faster.

"The doctor will talk to you soon." the desk clerk said stepping swiftly between him and the entrance to the emergency room bay.

"They boys? Where are they?" he asked.

"They're both fine. Only cuts and scraps when the truck flipped over." the desk clerk promised.

"Flipped over?" Alex asked.

"Deputy, I need you to fill out some paperwork for me. I'll need drug allergies for the children and Mrs. Bates. Insurance information." the desk clerks said.

"Misty, I don't have that information. That's the kind of thing their mother keeps in her purse. Can I please see the boys?" Alex pushed her aside gently. "Call Sybil Lawson. She'll have all that information."

~ No one questioned Alex's presence there. They knew who he was and his relationship to Norma Bates. They looked at him fearfully and Alex was reminded of Moses parting the Red Sea, on in this case, it was a sea of nurses and orderlies who cleared a path for him till he found the bay that the boys were in.

It was more that just a few cuts and scraps. Dylan's face was bandaged and Norman's arm was in a sling.  
"Alex!" Dylan cried in alarm. His face discolored from crying.

"Boys." Alex breathed in relief at seeing they were battered, but breathing and in one piece.

Norman moaned and started to cry. The youngest child reaching out for him as though he were still an infant and Alex gently picked him up, worried there might be more injuries he wasn't seeing. The boys were in small hospital gowns for children and their little bodies decorated with badges caused by broken glass from the crash.

Norman held onto Alex fiercely and started to cry.

"Dylan, what happened?" Alex asked sensing he would get nothing out of Norman.

"A big black truck hit us." Dylan said and his lower lip started to tremble.

"It's okay, son." Alex said. "Tell me exactly what happened."

"We were on the road to the farm. To bring Chick some groceries." Dylan explained. "This truck was following us really close and mom, she got worried and was saying he should pass us. The truck was honking at us and fishing at us and it was scary. Then he rammed into us from behind. He did it once and mom got scared. Then he hit us really, really hard from behind and we drove off the road and into a field with all these cows and the truck flipped over a bunch and…" Dylan needed to catch his breath. "And… and Norman and I were still in our seatbealts and we were all upside-down and Norman was crying and mom… she wouldn't wake up."

Dylan was crying now to but trying to wipe away the tears before Alex could tell.

"It's okay." Alex said resting a hand on his shoulder.

"This farmer ran out and climbed into the truck and took us out." Dylan told him. "Then he went back and got mom. Her face had blood all over it."

Alex felt dizzy and clutched Norman tighter.

What if Norma died? What if the boys were left alone in this world? What if he was all they had? Could he really take care of them without their mother?

"Deputy Romero?" a voice, calm and confident asked from behind and Alex turned to see the young face of Max Barker. **Doctor** Max Barker now, but when Alex knew him, Max had been a tall, gangly teenager who was going to Ivy League on a basket ball scholarship. He'd brainy the 6'7 giant had come back and was living the simple bohemian life with his new wife and baby. It surprised no one that he'd become a doctor. Despite his sad childhood of wandering hippie parents who didn't have penny between them, Max and his siblings had all made good. All of them graduating from college and for some reason returning to White Pine Bay. Maybe because it was where they had the most stability. They'd found Sybil there and she'd provided the wayward parents with work for a few years before they abandoned their six children and were never heard from again.

"Max." Alex breathed in relief at seeing his old friend. "Are you Norma's doctor?"

"I was her surgeon." Max corrected softly.

' _Was?_ ' Alex's mind raced and he put Norman down.

"I'm going to go and talk to this doctor about your mom." he explained to the boys. "I need you both to sit there. Sybil is on her way."

Dylan nodded but Norman was still crying.

Alex couldn't bear to look at them anymore and had to turn away.

~ "Max, is she ok?" Alex asked. He knew she was gone. Knew that Doctor Max Barker with his strait A's all through high school would never bull shit him.

"She had a brain bleed and we had to perform emergency surgery to stop the swelling, Alex." Max explained. "She's stable now but a medical coma was induced to protect the higher brain functions."

"Was she unconscious when she came in?" Alex asked.

Max nodded.

"Normally, we don't like to perform this type of surgery unless the patient has been conscious. We had to act quickly." Max explained. "Her vitals are excellent and she's breathing on her own. All very good signs."

Alex swallowed hard.

"Is she going to make it? Will she have brain damage?" he asked.

"We've done all we can." Max said. "The brain can heal itself. She has to wake up on her own though."

"If she doesn't?" Alex asked. "Is she's in a coma?"

"It's just unresponsive right now." Max corrected. "Its' like she's sleeping."

"Will she wake up?" Alex asked.  
"She's young and the bleed wasn't that bad. I've seen worse and they've all recovered with proper rehabilitation." Max assured him.

Alex looked back at the bay where Norman and Dylan sat huddled together.

"Do you know what happened?" he asked. A cold resolve settling over him. Someone did this to Norma and the boys. Someone hurt them.

"The story I got was some black SUV hit her from behind on a farm road. The truck veered off into Mr. Kettler's pasture and flipped over a few times. The SUV drove off. Mr. Kettler and his sons didn't get the plate number. They were too busy getting help." Max explained.

"I think I have an idea." Alex said weakly.

~ Sybil arrived and brought a calmness to everything.

"None of this was your fault." she told Dylan and Norman with such a motherly touch it surprised Alex. He wasn't used to seeing the old dragon like this. The Sybil he knew was always fit to breathe fire. "Accidents happen. There's no reason to be upset. I happen to know your mom will be just fine."

"Really?" Dylan asked and Norman wanted Alex to pick him up again. The little boy was gifting too heavy these days to be lifted.

"Of course!" Sybil huffed. "Your mother will be fine and while she's getting better you'll stay with me. I'd love to have you boys and Alex at my house."

"Sybil, they should stay at home with me." Alex said. "We can't have Norman changing… well, changing homes."

He was starting to think Tess was right about Norman wanting constant structure and conformity. To have him stay overnight in a new place would be too horrible after this.

"Maybe you're right. I'll get you for the summer time." Sybil promised. "I have a pool and everything. You boys will come and spend it with me while your parents enjoy a nice break from kids."

Dylan nodded but Norman clutched Alex harder. He lacked Sybil's faith that Norma would pull through. What is she was in this unresponsive state forever? What if he had to take care of the boys? He had no legal claim to them. He and Norma weren't married yet. Sybil would have to take them away, it was the law.

He saw his family, his future vanishing like smoke.

"It's going to be okay, son." Alex whispered to Norman who started to cry again.

~ Sybil stayed with the boys when Alex was finally allowed to see Norma. It was nearly midnight and Tom had come by earlier to say Graceland was with him and Tess for as long at the crisis dictated.

The post operation room was isolated from the main hospital and looked like something from the future. Even the clear glass doors were automatic and everything smelled clean and of chemicals.

Norma looked pale and lifeless in her hospital bed. Her small figure seeming especially fragile in the large bed that swallowed her up. When Alex took hold of her hand, he thought it felt too cold and she didn't respond at all to his touch.

"Norma?" Alex asked hoping the sound of his voice would bring her back to him. She didn't stir at all.

"Baby? Baby, the boys are okay. They just have a few cuts. You need to wake up and tell them you're going to be fine." Alex prompted. Hoping her instincts as a mother would kick in and she'd wake up for her children. He sensed she was close to wakefulness, yet she might as well have been dead for how she looked. There was no bruises, no evidence of injury to her head. Yet her flesh was as pale milk and her eyelids and lips unnaturally dark. She was like a fairy princess in a story who was slowly dying from her deep sleep.

Alex clutched her face gently and kissed her cold lips.

"Wake up, baby. Wake up." he pleaded. He couldn't stop crying when she slept on.

 **Note: I got a request to finish 'Shadow on the wall". I didn't write it.**


	86. Chapter 86

86.

~ Max had insisted the boys stay overnight at the hospital for observation. After Alex had brought them a change of clothes, some comforting toys and sugary snacks with a warning never to tell their mother about, he had no choice but to go home alone.

He'd never been in the cozy little house alone before. Not even Graceland, who was still being looked after by Tom and Tess, was there for company.

The house felt empty and oddly haunted without Norma and the boys there. Alex forgot to turn on the kitchen lights and wondered why the house seemed so gloomy. Why his tuna sandwich tasted so depressing in the dark as he watched a boring game alone.

He had to have the TV on. The noise was a diversion that he needed. He was used to the constant chatter of Dylan and Norman winding down from the day. Of Norma cooking and giving orders like she was the captain of a ship. The house bright with activity and smelling of good things to eat, clean laundry and happiness.

Now, it was like the house was waiting to come alive again. As if Alex was just a hired grounds keeper and the real inhabitants of the house, the life blood of the home, were expected any moment.

It hurt to much to stay awake and Alex finished his three shots of whisky, something he never did anymore since meeting Norma, and went to bed.

Their bed, like their home, was cold and strange without her. The house feeling too quite and unsafe without the noise of the two boys in the next room and the movement of Norma beside him.

His body still felt tense at the idea Bob Paris had done this to her. That maybe the spoiled rich kid hadn't done it himself, but he had one of his little hired goons do the dirty work for him. Bob Pairs would always keep his hands clean.

' _I can't kill him._ ' Alex reasoned. ' _I have motive and everyone knows it._ '

Then an idea occurred to him. Something so delightfully simple, that it felt as satisfying as fitting puzzle pieces together.

' _I know someone who can kill him. Someone who no one would ever suspect._ ' Alex decided. ' _Someone who would love to take out Bob Paris._ '

~ Nick Ford had done well in White Pine Bay. He owned property, a yacht and even had a racy mistress in Portland who was rumored to have meet him at a strip club. The two had a daughter together. An attractive, hyper sexual teenager named Blair who thankfully took after her mother in looks but seemed to have her father pension for trouble. Alex and Tom had brought her home to Nick's house more than once after she'd been drinking under age. Both law men knowing never to file charges on Nick Ford's daughter.

Alex suspected Blair was always acting out for attention. She was bright enough. Always on the honor roll since she was very young, but Nick seemed to treat her like a nuisance in public. Something he was ashamed of.

Alex had to wonder if his own father ever regarded him the same way Nick Ford did Blair.

"Deputy Romero." Nick said sitting across from him at a pizza place neither one of them had ever been to in Portland.

It was important that they meet somewhere no one could identify them and where Alex couldn't be killed by Nick's bodyguards.

"Tell me, Alex." Nick said lazily. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Alex pretended to smile. He didn't like Nick Ford.

"I'm sure you heard what happened to Norma Bates." he said. He managed to keep a strait face. Managed to keep that shield up and make it seem like he didn't care.

"Terrible thing. I'm sorry." Nick said. He seemed to mean it to. "She seemed like a very lovely woman. I can certainly see why you care for her."

"Bob Paris is behind what happened." Alex accused.

"I'm sure he was." Nick agreed. "After you tore through his beloved club. You should know better than to mess with the big dog, Alex."

"I had to. We had a victim." Alex said.

"You'll always have victims." Nick said. "As long as Bob Paris is alive, you'll always have victims. You'll just have to look away."

"Even if one of those victims is Blair?" Alex asked.

This seemed to be the right button and Nick looked angry. A shadow covering his face and triggering a killer instinct to protect his young.

Alex shrugged.

"He didn't care about that girl. Said a hooker can't get rapped, Nick. What if he felt the same way about Blair? How old is she now?" Alex asked.

"She's fifteen." Nick said.

"Our victim was only three years older than her." Alex said. "Norma might not make it. What are her boys going to do? What am I supposed to do, Nick?"

"Why are we talking, Alex?" Nick suddenly asked.

Alex looked around the pizza joint.

"I can't do anything." he said. "I can't do anything to Bob Pairs. I wish I could put a bullet through his brain, but I can't. Too many people would know I did it. I have a motive."

"True." Nick said.

"You don't." Alex said casually.

"That's also true." Nick sighed.

The older man shrugged.

"I could have one of my men take out Bob Paris easily. A new guy, perhaps, who doesn't know better. Then, I would take him out myself. Nice a neat." Nick Ford said without a care. "If I were to do this, Alex, it would be an awfully big favor."

"Bigger than not arresting Blair for under age drinking all those times?" Alex asked.

"That's just a curtesy." Nick said. "No, I mean a favor. If I eliminate Bob Paris for you, you'll eliminate someone for me."

"Who?" Alex asked skeptically.

"Someone who, if they were killed, would draw attention to me. Someone who everyone would suspect I did it. Yet, if I had an unbreakable alibi, no one would connect me to him. Especially if I had the new Sheriff working for me." Nick said.

"I won't be working for you." Alex corrected smartly.

"Of course not." Nick said. "I guess you'll spend your nights worrying if Bob Paris and his men are going to kill Norma in her hospital bed, or come after the boys next."

Alex felt the blow of Nicks words like a stab to the heart.  
"Who… who do you have in mind?" he asked.

"Lets not discuss this anymore than needed." Nick said. "You go to the hospital. Make sure you're seen and that you're looking after Norma. I'll take care of Bob Paris and his little henchman as a bonus for you. Nice and neat."

The older man stood up and buttoned his coat. Leaving Alex with the feeling that he'd made a deal with the devil.

"I like Norma. She's lovely. I hope she get's better." he said sincerely before leaving.

~ Alex visited Norma first and saw that she was still sleeping. She resembled a fairy tale princess in every way in her hospital bed. He was thankful she had her own room and that they could be alone. Even though Nick had told him to make sure to be seen at the hospital, he wanted to be alone with Norma just now.

"Baby, I missed you last night." Alex sighed when he sat down next to her bed. She slept on. Indifferent to what was happening around her. Her beautiful face relaxed and serene but her skin had become pale and her lips and eyelids were still too dark.

"I need you to wake up soon so that I can take you home." he prompted her. He moved a tendril of hair off her face and tucked it behind her ear. He didn't want his tiger to look unkempt in her hospital bed. He repositioned the covers so that she'd be warm and his eyes fell on a green, leather book on the other side.

It was sitting innocently on the other chair beside her bed and when Alex leaned in to look closer, he saw it was a copy of "The Jungle Book". Someone seeming to have abandoned it here with a sleeping patient who wasn't able to read it for herself.

Just as Alex circle around to pick up the copy for himself, the door to Norma's room opened and Ed Warren walked in holding a cup of coffee. Clearly he wasn't expecting to see Alex Romero there because both men exchanged perplexed looks.

"Alex." Ed Warren nodded.

"Ed." Alex Romero said curtly. "I see you heard about the accident."

"I did." Ed Warren said setting his coffee on the bedside table next to Norma and gently taking the copy of "The Jungle Book" away from him.

Alex didn't miss the annoyed look Ed gave him. As if blaming him for Norma's condition.

"How long have you been here?" Alex asked.

"A couple of hours now." Ed admitted taking his seat next to Norma. "Thought I might read to her a little. Hopefully wake her up, if she heard a familiar voice."

"She didn't wake up last night for me, I doubt she'd do it for you today." Alex told him taking a chair at Norma's other side. He wished he'd thought to bring Norma flowers or a stuffed bear. Something, anything, to show up Ed's stupid and thoughtful book he was reading to her. He'd been to busy meting Nick Ford and having Bob Paris killed to think of gifts.

"We can't give up faith, Alex." Ed said. "She seemed to be dreaming earlier this morning when I got here. That was a good sign."

Alex looked at Norma who slept on. Oblivious to their conversation.

"She was?" he asked.

"Her eyes were moving back and forth." Ed said. "Rapid Eye Movement indicates dreaming."

"I think that is a good sign." Alex agreed.

"The boys are doing well." Ed said casually.

"You've seen them already?" Alex asked.

"I'm their pastor." Ed explained.

"I take that as a yes."

"It's a yes."

"Do all pastors come to patients bedsides and read to them?" Alex asked.  
"Not all." Ed said with a shrug. Clearly he didn't care if Alex meant to hurt him. He handed over the green leather clad copy of "The Jungle Book".

"When I was twelve and had that bad fall off my bike and broke my leg, your mom came to see me in the hospital." he explained.

Alex looked at the book again and was struck by the fact it was a very nice copy. If not very old. He opened the front cover and saw his mother's perfect palmer script written inside.

 _To Ed Warren. Feel better soon._

 _Love Theresa Romero_

 _July, 1986_

"Your mom used to come and read me from that same book everyday. My Aunt was mad at me because the older boys had dared me to jump that ridge and she said I was a follower. She refused to come visit me as punishment. But your mother came, Alex." Ed explained. "She came everyday and brought me something nice to eat and read to me and we watched cartoons together."

"I didn't know that." Alex admitted. "I mean, I remember you breaking your leg that summer. You were in a cast and were stuck at home."

"You and your jock buddies were out trolling us geeks." Ed reminded him. "Saw me on my crutches getting the mail and threw eggs at me."

Alex remembered what kind of teenager he was. Senior year, just after graduation, he thought he knew everything and he was living it up the week before he went into the Marines.

"I remember." Alex said. "And I am sorry."

"No need to apologize. You were a bigger follower than I was." Ed said. "The crowd you hung around, Keith Summers, Bob Paris, Jimmy Brennen? Were pretty bad kids. Where are they now?"

Alex shook his head. He hardly recognized himself from the kid he'd been over a decade ago.

"Where are they now." Alex agreed softly.

~ Alex and Ed didn't speak much as they pretend to have great interest in a boring game show while Norma slept on. She appeared dead to the world yet her breathing was light and shallow. Finally, after a long stalemate of who would crack first, Ed had to leave.

"Thank you for coming to visit." Alex said.

"I'll be back tomorrow." Ed said to Norma and ignoring Alex. "We can finish our book."

"So will I." Alex told him.

~ The boys were much more responsive to seeing him than Norma and much happier to see him than Ed.

"Alex!" Dylan shouted with glee and jumped off the bed to hug him. Alex noticed both boys had new stuffed animals and when he asked about them wasn't at all surprised by the answer.

"Pastor Warren gave them to us." Dylan said holding up the high end stuffed dogs that looked alike but were different enough in color to set them apart. Norman clutching his dog fiercely and refusing to leave his bed till Alex had come by his side.

"Boys, I know last night was hard, but it's going to be okay." Alex said.

"Can we see mom now?" Dylan asked.

"No." Alex said immediately. "She's still not well enough but she misses you and wants you to behave."

"Is mother... is she dead?" Norman asked.

"Why would you ask something like that?" Alex asked the little boy.

"I keep thinking she's dead." Norman said. "That she's not coming back. I'm scared."

"Nothing bad is going to happen. She's going to be fine and I'm right here." Alex told him.

Norman, not one to show affection, crawled into his lap and hugged him. Hugged him like he'd done last night. A hug that Alex thought he might never be able to get out of.

"It's going to be okay, son. You'll both come home with me and you'll be fine." he said.

"Little Bear?" Sybil's dragon like voice called from outside the hospital room and ruined the family moment.

Alex pulled away from Norman to see the petite old woman clutching a file and looking somber.

"I need a word." Sybil said nodding for him to come with her.

~ "Foster home?" Alex barked.

"You're not their father or their step father." Sybil explained. "I can't let you take custody of them."

"Norma and I are getting married." Alex said quickly.

"An engagement isn't the same as a marriage, Little Bear, you know that." Sybil said in a sympathetic voice. "Norma didn't make provisions for the boys in case of a situation like this. She didn't name you, or anyone, legal guardian of her children in case the worst should happen to her."

"Foster Home, Sybil." Alex breathed. "Norman can't go to a foster home. What about Tom and Tess? He knows them at least. She was a school teacher."

"It gets worse." Sybil told him. "John Massett is on his way here. He's been notified about the accident, and is coming to collect Dylan and take him to Colorado."

"John Massett-" Alex fumed but didn't say the truth. He wouldn't betray Norma's secret. "John Massett hasn't seen Dylan or paid Norma child support. Ever."

"He's still on the brith certificate." Sybil explained.

"Norman has never been separated from his brother. Now with his mother in the hospital and asking him to stay in a strange place." Alex explained. "With his condition."  
"Norma never had her youngest son diagnosed with autism, Alex." It was Sybil's turn to fume. " **That** might have given me something to work with. Given me a chance to allow the boys to stay with you to maintain some consistency.

"The boys can't be separated and Norman can't go into a foster home. Sybil please." Alex begged.  
"Norman will be with the Perions. They are the very best foster family I have, Alex." Sybil explained. "They has no other children in that house just now and we both know they are very good. They will treat Norman very well. They raised all those foster kids for years. They know what to do. You can visit him everyday. Stay as long as you like to."

"What about Dylan?" Alex asked. He felt he night pass out. "Colorado?"

"I can't control that, Alex." Sybil said.

"What if Norma doesn't wake up." Alex asked helplessly.

"I can't control that either, Little Bear." the old dragon said sadly.


	87. Chapter 87

87.

~ Norma fell into a strange and lonely place she couldn't escape from. She was trapped in a large house she had never been in that was always surrounded by a dense and inescapable fog. She couldn't seem to leave the house at all because the doors were locked fast and windows were unbreakable.

There was also a coldness in the air that never seemed to leave her and she could hear things in the house, that she knew didn't belong there. She didn't remember how she came to be in this limbo place. Only that it was cold and empty. The colors were all washed out into grays, pale blues and the ever present white of the surrounding fog.

The fog never left. Not even in the night time.

The inside of the house seemed a place out of time. Like it was a living museum she was expected to take part in. Expectant and waiting for her to play some kind of role. The wallpaper was faded and peeling and everything inside the house smelled as if it hadn't been disturbed in decades.

' _Is this is where the dead go?_ ' Norma thought as she wandered all around the lonely house that had been just as neglected as she was. ' _Am I dead?_ '

She couldn't remember how she'd died and if it was a bad thing that she was dead. She looked over the pictures on the walls and didn't recognize them. They were strangers, long dead for decades and dressed in clothing from the turn of the century. They were ghosts, just like this house.

Soon, Norma realized she wasn't alone. There was a strange man in the house who wouldn't let her leave. Who would tell her she had to stay here. That everyone thought she was dead and they had to keep it secret she was still alive.

Norma didn't recognize him. The man was in his late forties, fat and harmless looking. He was impotent and skittish in general appearance, but she believed him when he told her that she couldn't leave this place.

The fog outside wouldn't let her.

The man, she never knew his name, would leave and she was alone when Alex came. The strange man was afraid of Alex. Norma could see the Sheriff's deputy wandering outside in the fog looking for her. Looking for the house and she couldn't seem to unlock the doors to get out.

She couldn't break the windows to free herself and she had to watch helplessly as he looked in vain until nightfall. The big dog, Graceland, sniffing around in the high, dead grass and still not finding the house.

The strange man would return as soon as Alex left. Cowardly, sloppily overweight and refusing to look Norma in the eye, he told her she was safe here and she couldn't leave the house.

' _The fog is took thick._ ' he'd said. ' _Too dangerous. No one will hurt you here, mother._ '

Norma was never hurt by this strange phantom who she didn't recognize. She wasn't afraid exactly, but she knew he was preventing her from leaving. Knew that time was spinning into years and she couldn't stop it.

Ed Warren appeared in the fog one morning. His voice coming to her as she was playing piano in the antique parlor downstairs. She tried to open the windows and scream for help but they wouldn't budge. She tried to open the door but it was as if it were made of cement.

She listened to Ed's voice but could barely make out what he was saying. Something like 'The boys' and then his voice became a soft and soothing tone that lulled her into feeling of contentment. She felt a different kind of safety than when Alex was in that place.

The strange man who called her mother was gone and it was like the fog was lifting. When Alex came, she thought she saw the sun come out a little. Thought the windows were willing to open and doors unlocked. Alex didn't seem to look for her now. She watched the two men talking from her window and felt amused at their dislike for each other.

It occurred to her, with great shock that she had to leave this place quickly. That Alex needed her and there were other reasons to. Little faces, little hands… she couldn't remember…

Frustrated, Norma watched as Alex and Ed faded away into the fog and night came.

The house got colder and darker with each passing day. Each passing week and month. The wallpaper seemed to fade faster to and the pictures in the frames became distorted. The subjects taking on demon like faces.

' _Am I going to hell?'_ Norma thought. ' _Am I already in hell?_ '

She couldn't find a way out anymore. All the doors and windows were vanishing. The strange man had returned and seemed complacent that she'd be his forever. That she would nourish him for all time.

' _I'm not dead!'_ she tried to scream but the words were lost. Becoming a whispered echo in this horrible place not even ghosts would haunt.

She tried to find a door, any door, that would lead to a way out of this house and couldn't find one. She'd been sealed up as if in a tomb with this vial man who kept calling her 'mother.'

' _I'm not your mother._ ' she she wanted to cry when she remembered she **was** a mother. She remembered she once had a rounded belly and swollen feet and tender breasts from nursing babies. She remembered Dylan's scrunched up, angry face as a newborn. A face that always looked angry until they moved to White Pine Bay. She remembered Norman who always looked so serene and sweet as a baby. Who never cried and when he did, was only soothed by her alone. Something that had made her feel so special as a mother.

Dylan and Norman. Her two boys. They were in the truck with her when it flipped over. Are they in this place? Are they someplace worse? Are they still alive?

Norma raced towards the hallway and to the front door that appeared as if by her will alone. It opened with ease and she ran as though the house was on fire. She could feel the wretched old house collapsing behind her and the fog starting to shift. She couldn't see anything of the house but could tell the house was once a beautiful old Queen Anne style house. The same one she'd admired on the old highway when they first moved to White Pine Bay. The one with a tacky old motel built to the side that had gone out of business and had been allowed to fall into disrepair.

She watched as the fog tried to roll over it and it's roof start to collapse. The irate man screaming for her to come back. That he had to protect her. Protect her from the outside world. Protect her from all the people who would hurt her.

She should feel the fog lifting and see that there was sunlight and trees surrounding the house. Feel the warmth coming back into her bones.

"My name is Norma Bates!" she shouted as loud as she could to the fog and the trees and the sunlight she hadn't seen in so many years of being trapped in that house.

"AND I'M STILL ALIVE!"

~ When Norma woke up, true to fashion, she complained loudly that she wanted something to eat, wanted to see her sons and wanted to go home.

"I'm hungry." she groaned around midnight. Alex had been sleeping next to her and thought he'd been dreaming when she spoke. He turned to her and had to make sure it was all real, that she was sitting up in bed, awake and alert, and staring at him.

"Baby?" he looked at her in surprise.

"I'm hungry." she repeated again simply. "I'm starving."

He started laughing. He couldn't help himself. He'd never felt such relief come over him as he did when he saw Norma with her eyes open and wanting something to eat.

"How do you feel?" he asked running a hand over her forehead. He'd been asleep and hadn't noticed the color retuning to her face.

"Everything hurts." Norma said petulantly. "Where are the boys?"

"The boys are fine." he said quickly.

"They were in the truck, Alex!" she cried.

"They were buckled in. They had a few cuts and that's it. They are more worried about you."

"I want to see them!" she sobbed.

"Okay, baby." he said trying to soothe her. "It's after midnight, they're asleep. We can see them in the morning."

"I want to go home." she demanded.

"We will as soon as the doctor says so." he felt himself grin while he pressed the call button for the nurse.

~ Norma was in much better spirits after she'd gotten something to eat and the nurse removed the catheter. Alex had helped her to the bathroom, although she'd stubbornly tried to swat him away and helped her to take a shower.

"I had the worst dream, Alex." she sighed feeling her head for the stitches left from the accident.

"What about?" he asked gently drying her hair.

"I was… I don't remember." she confessed. That place she'd been in seeming to fad away so quickly now that it was over. "I just, I couldn't get out."

"Well, you're out now." Alex sighed.

"I was asleep for two days?" Norma asked with a yawn.

Alex looked at her skeptically. Was she tired again?

"I didn't let the boys see you like that." he told her.

"Good." she said. "Can I go back to bed?"

Alex wanted her to stay awake for a while. He was afraid to let her go back to sleep. Hadn't she slept enough already?

"Sure." he whispered and helped her back to bed.

"Alex, will you stay here?" she asked.

"Of course." he promised easily when he tucked her back in.

"That man in the house is afraid of you." she said dreamily. She was already half asleep.

"What man in the house?"

"That man wouldn't let me leave. He's afraid of you. He runs away when you're here." she explained as though talking in her sleep.

"He should be afraid of me." Alex told her and watched her sleeping. Her breathing normal and her color still rich and pink as ever.

~ "I heard she's awake. Thank God." Ed Warren said early that morning.

"How did you find out?" Alex asked skeptically.

"Sherry is a member of our perish, Alex. She called me." Ed explained motioning to the charge nurse who gave them both a wave.

"How thoughtful." Alex said with a hint of sarcasm. "Norma's sleeping right now."

"Thought she was awake." Ed accused.

"It seems it's very normal for someone coming out of a coma like this to take a bunch of… naps." Alex shrugged feeling equally frustrated. "She woke up around midnight, ate something and took a shower. She remembered everything, so that's good. She woke up an hour ago, was hungry again and ate something and went back to sleep."

"The boys?" Ed asked.

"Still in the observation room. Sybil was going to take both of them to the foster home today." Alex explained. He didn't want to like Ed Warren but it felt nice to share with someone who was equally as concerned as he was about the children and Norma.

"At least they'll be together." Ed said sympathetically. "No more news about Dylan's father?"

"Maybe he changed his mind." Alex shrugged. "Hopefully, we can get Norma home and no more talk about foster care."

"I can have a helper from the church come over." Ed offered. "One of our retired ladies to do the laundry and cooking till Norma is on her feet. That might speed up the process of getting everyone back to where they need to be."

Alex looked at Ed with sincere distrust.

"You'd do that?" he asked. "For us?"

"For Norma." Ed corrected.

"Excuse me?" a curt and demanding voice ripped both men away from their conversation. Alex and Ed went from glaring daggers at each other to glaring at the intruder that was approaching them.

For Alex, he had to do a double take. The man looked enough like him that they could have been brothers. Dark hair and eyes, but that alone wasn't what made them look so much alike. Even Ed seemed alarmed by their striking resemblance.

The only difference, the best way to tell them apart, was that this man was in a suit and tie and Alex, because he was off duty was in jeans and his typical layers of shirts and leather jacket.

"I'm John Massett. Are you Deputy Romero?" the man asked rudely.

Alex leaned back.

No wonder John Massett publicly questioned his paternity in court. No way would this man have believed Dylan, with his blue eyes and blond hair, was his. Alex was not geneticist, but even a high school understanding of the subject gave him enough knowledge to know that Dylan looked nothing like this man and everything like his real father.

"I'm Deputy Romero." Alex said coldly.

"I'm here to pick up my son." John Massett told him.

"You have a son?" Alex asked in a catty tone. For some reason, the middle school girl in him was coming out.

"I'm Pastor Ed Warren." Ed said extending a hand which John Massett refused.

"Look, Deputy, I was informed by child services that my ex-wife was in an accident and that my son was going to go into foster care unless I picked him up." John told him.

"Who's your ex-wife?" Alex asked.

John looked annoyed.

"Norma Bates. I believe you know her." John said. "I was told by some old hag named Sybil Lawson that you're her fiancé."

Alex pretend to think for a moment and he and Ed exchanged looks as if trying to remember who Norma Bates was.

Ed Warren snapped his finger.

"Oh, Norma Bates!" Ed said. "Yeah, Alex you remember her. You shot and killed her husband Sam."

"Oh, that's right!" Alex said a grateful nod. "Thanks for reminding me, Ed. Yeah I **did** soot and kill him."

His next words were casual and indifferent.

"He was really pissing me off."

John looked shocked.

"Look, I'm a lawyer, Gentleman. I know my rights to my son." he said.

"You have son?" Alex asked.

"First I'm hearing about it." Ed agreed.

"Why haven't you ever paid child support, John?" Alex asked.

"Seems very unlawful for a lawyer." Ed said in a singsong voice.

"Do I need to call that social worker?" John asked.

"Doubtful." Alex shrugged. "Norma's awake."

"She'll be taking bother her children home soon." Ed added.

"Naw, she'll probably make me do it." Alex sighed.

"That's true." Ed smiled.

"That woman has me doing all kinds of chores. Including taking out the trash." Alex glanced at John.

"The important thing is, John, is that she's awake and can legally dictate who can take care of the children." Ed said gently.

"Especially since you haven't paid child support, since… ever." Alex shrugged.

His doppelgänger looked furious.

"Deputy Romero, can I speak with you a moment? Alone?" he nodded to Ed.

Alex and Ed exchanged looks.

"Sure." he said. "Won't change anything. "Dylan isn't going to Colorado with you."

"There's a little cafe down the block from here." John said. "Can we meet there?"

Ed and Alex watched John Massett leave before they both let out a collective sigh.

"That was fun. Think we should use our powers for good or evil?" Ed asked.

"Wonder what he wants to talk about?" Alex asked.

"No idea but I swear that he could have been your twin brother, Alex." Ed asked.

"Will you check on the boys and Norma for me?" Alex asked. Normally, he hated the idea of leaving Ed alone with his family, but at the same time, he trusted Ed Warren more than most. It was because Ed cared for them that Alex knew he would never hurt them in anyway.

"Sure." Ed promised.

"Fair warning, Norma is a little cranky when she wakes up till she's had something to eat." Alex told him.

"Thanks. I'll be ready." Ed said with a smile.

 **I based the description of Norma's captor in the house on Robert Bloch's Norman Bates from the original book. He was described as the exact opposite of Anthony Perkins and Freddie Highmore. In the book Norman Bates was fat, ugly, in his late forties and generally harmless looking. I thought it was a brilliant move on Hitchcock's part to make Norman Bates handsome and charming because no one wants to believe a monster is outwardly so pleasing and gentle.**


	88. Chapter 88

88.

~ John was waiting in the little cafe a block away from the hospital. Alex noticed a lot of the locals were giving the two men second glances when he sat across from the well dressed lawyer. Surely there would be rumors circulating around town that the Old Bear must have had some affair twenty-five years ago, and that this man was Alex's long lost half brother.

For all Alex knew, such a thing could be true. His father had been a notorious womanizer and John Massett looked enough like Alex to be blood relation. He never thought of Norma having a type before. He'd always assumed he'd been the one to pursue her and win her affections. That she, like most women, didn't care about outward appearances but cared only about inner substance.

After all, only men were shallow enough to have a type.

"Thanks for meeting with me." John said when Alex took a seat opposite him at the back of the cafe. He gotten a single black coffee and watched his counterpart lavish his own coffee with sugar and cream.

"I'm curious." Alex said. "Why now?"

"What?"

"Why now?" Alex asked again. "I mean, you denied paternity in court. I saw the documents. Accused Norma of deceit. Never visited Dylan or even seemed to care about him. Why are you so interested in seeing him now?"

John stirred his coffee and took a moment.

"I know I seem like a monster." he said. "At the time… things between Norma and I were… we weren't good to each other."

"How so?"

"We were young." John said with a bitter smile. "I started to suspect that Dylan wasn't mine. We were living with my uncle and his wife. They convinced me, early on, that he wasn't my son."

John had the decency to look a little ashamed of himself.

"I knew Norma… I mean, I knew she was only with me to get away from her family. I knew they were really bad people. I know, there was abuse." John said tactfully.

"I know about Caleb." Alex told him curtly.

John looked wounded but nodded.

"I… um… I saw the way that… that animal, the way he would look at her. Like she belonged to him. He wouldn't let her out of his sight most of the time. He always had to be around her. Always… pulling on her. It was disgusting. I don't blame her for wanting to get away. Not anymore." John said.

"So she lied to you." Alex accused. "Pretended Dylan was yours to get her to marry her."

"I honestly think she wasn't sure if Dylan was mine or not." John admitted sadly. "At least not till he got a little older. It was obvious then."

John ignored his coffee and focused on slowly turning the cup around.

"I was heartbroken, Alex." he said. "I felt like my son had been stolen from me. So, we fought a lot. She meets this guy Sam and he seems to make her happy. She wanted to be with him. So, I let her. She never fought me on child support and I was too angry and hurt to do anything but walk away. I went to law school and never even thought about it. I just assumed she was happy with this guy."

"So why come back now?" Alex said. "Dylan is almost seven he doesn't even know you."

"Look, I never stopped caring for Norma." John explained. "She's not the kind of girl you just 'get over' okay?"

John set aside the coffee he hand't drank and took a moment to collect himself.

"When we were in high school, her home life was really bad. We were together and she always needed to escape. She always needed to get away from that house she was living in. When you're sixteen and in love with this incredible girl, you just live in the moment so much." he explained. "I never forgot that feeling."

Alex understood exactly what John meant. Too often he'd been the one who had to escape his own horrible home life. Being a boy was different of course. He didn't have to live in fear of being raped by an older brother like Norma did. Of the sexual predators that seemed to lie in wait for Norma. Still, his own home life was unbearable and it was still something that haunted him.

"I'm on the child's birth certificate. I'm legally his father. I recently got married and my wife is expecting our first child. A boy. When that lady called me and told me what happened to Norma, it was like I was sixteen again and she was crying for me to come and help her. I knew I had to come take him. Blood or no, I still have that responsibility." John explained.

"John, you had seven years to be the good guy here." Alex shook his head. "A paternity test could have easily absolved you from all responsibility to. Norma wouldn't want you to take him. Dylan has a younger brother who he's very close to and you'd be breaking up a family."

"I'm trying to do the right thing here, Alex." John insisted.

"You're trying to absolve your own conscience for abandoning that child and Norma in the first place." Alex corrected him.

John Massett looked wounded but Alex's words.

"Is Norma… is she going to be okay?" he asked.

"We think so." Alex said. "She had surgery and she's awake and seems more like herself."

"This brother of Dylan's. She had him with Sam Bates? They guy you killed?"

"Yes."

"Why did you kill him? For real, why did you kill him?"

"You can read about it in the papers." Alex said hotly and then decide to be honest. "He was beating her. Broke into her home one night, then broke her arm bad enough that the bone was sticking out of the skin. Dylan flagged me down in the rain and… um… Norma could have died. It wasn't the first time Sam had hurt her either. He had a long rap sheet and she was seeking a divorce. He made the mistake of trying to attack me when I tried to calm him down."

"Shit." John sighed.

"Did you ever hurt her?" Alex asked casually. "During one of your fights?"

"Oh, no." John said with a smile. "No, fighting with Norma is like fighting… a…"

"Tiger?" Alex offered.

John nodded.

"Exactly. Its' suicide to pick a fight with that woman. Part of her charm." he grinned and Alex nodded in agreement.

"So you two are getting married?" John asked.

"Yeah, soon. I'll be adopting Dylan and Norman." Alex explained.

"Norman?" John asked. His brows going up in amusement.

Alex nodded.

"Norma and Norman?"

"I know." Alex sighed.

"Bit unusual."

"That's what I said." Alex agreed.

"Is she happy?" John asked.  
"I hope so. We're moving into my grandparents farm house. It's being restored. Plenty of room for the boys to grow."

"That's good." John said.

"I need you to go away." Alex said at last. "Norma was in this accident and she doesn't need the stress of you being here upsetting her."

John looked like he was about to argue.

"John you're a lawyer. As a favor to me, I want you to draw up the paperwork to surrender all your rights to Dylan so that I can adopt him when I marry his mother." Alex said.

John Massett looked saddened but finally nodded.

"I just… I wanted to at least see him." he said.

~ Norma hated hospital food, but was too hungry to care.

"I won't be able to fit into my clothes when I get home." she sighed fishing her lunch. She couldn't explain why she was so hungry each time she woke up from her little naps.

"It'll be fine." Ed laughed.

"When can I see the boys?" she asked.

"Alex is doing something and when he gets back, I'll go get them." Ed explained.

Norma looked at him suspiciously.

"Why can't you get them now?" she asked.

"Because Alex doesn't want me to leave you alone." he said. "Not when you're awake."

"Since when are you taking orders from Alex?" she laughed.

"Well, since you were in a really bad accident and we kind of became friends." Ed admitted.

Norma smiled.

"Promise the boys are okay?" she asked.

"I promise." he said. "They are giving them hell in the children's ward right now. The doctors didn't want to discharge them yet."

Norma finished her lunch and looked back at Ed.

"Thank you for visiting me." she said.

"You're welcome."

"No, I mean before. I know you came to see me before." she said. "I remember your voice."

"Oh." Ed said bashfully. "I was reading to you."

"Really?" Norma asked.

"Yeah." Ed admitted.

"Thought we were still mad at each other."

"You were hurt, Norma. I'm not going to be mad at you when you were hurt." Ed explained.

~ "He's a good kid." Alex explained as he and John watched Dylan and Norman play in the children's play room. The nursing staff knew who Alex was and they didn't bother the two men as they watched the kids from a distance. They boys never noticing the adults spying on them.

"He's smart and does what he's told. His mother and I have him in scouts and he's in little league. I'll be coaching his team next spring." Alex explained.

"You play?" John asked.

"I took my high school team to state." Alex told him trying to sound humble. "Twice."  
"I played baseball to. Norma isn't that into sports. At least when I knew her."

"I gathered that." Alex said wryly.

"Its' good that he's learning to play sports." John said wistfully.

They watched Dylan help Norman build with legos for a while.

"He looks like his mother." John decided sadly. "Dylan and Norman both."

"Lucky them." Alex said.

"Yeah." John smiled.

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a customized card holder.

"Here. In case you need to contact me." he said handing him his business card.

Alex looked it over and saw that John was a criminal lawyer. Had to be for corporations because the business cards were extremely nice and John was dressed so well. Far too well for the average criminal lawyer he was used to dealing with.

"I'll get started on those papers." he said. "All you and Norma will have to do is sign."

"Thank you." Alex said.

"Just do me a favor." John said.

"What?"

"Be good to her. I know she's a handful." John admitted. "She… you never get over your first love, you know."

"I know." Alex nodded. "Trust me, she won't tolerate anything less than my best behavior."

"Good for her." John smiled.

~ Norma wasn't sure what Ed talked to Sheriff Wilson about. Only that it was very brief and out of earshot. The Silver Fox said a quick hello to her and told her to get well soon and all was forgotten when Alex showed up with the boys.

"Mom!" Dylan shouted when her oldest saw her and jumped on her bed with excitement.

"Be careful, Dylan." Alex warned and Ed maneuvered the happy child away from all the wires and tubes that were still hooked up to her body.

Her son hugged her with such a savage fierceness she fired he might never let her go.  
"I was so scared!" Dylan cried. "The crash was so bad and you didn't wake up."  
"Oh, it's okay!" Norma smiled and felt her heart melt when she saw Alex come into her room carrying Norman. Her youngest was clutching the deputy tightly around the neck and looking at her suspiciously.

"Norman." she said calmly and waved for him to come sit with her. Her youngest seemed to shy away from her and gripped harder to Alex.

She felt her heart melt like it did the first time she ever saw Alex carry Norman. How heroic and handsome he looked back then. How handsome he still looked now. She felt that fluttering of butterflies alight inside her that was more than just a crush or silly infatuation. More that just attraction. It was genuine love she felt towards him as he carefully held her youngest in her arms as though he were his own.

"Norman, your mother wants to see you." Alex prompted the little boy and sat him gently on the side of the bed.

Norman appeared afraid of everything in his mother's hospital room. Norma realized she must not look like herself. Her clothes, hair and everything must be all off and were disorienting to her youngest.

"Norman, it's okay. It's me. I know it's scary but it's me. We're going to go home soon." she promised.

Norman whined and turned to Alex who promptly picked him up again. The young child not willing to look at his mother who seemed a stranger to him in this condition.

"It's okay, son." he said soothingly.

Dylan cuddled in her arms. Happy to take his younger brother's place at his mother's ' _baby_ '.

"Norman, I'm going to be home soon and everything will be okay." she promised.

She desperately wanted to hold her little boy in her arms and hatred the snowy white cast on his arm. She'd known he'd broken his arm during the crash but she hated seeing him hurt at all. The big plaster thing seeming to envelop his small arm whole.

She looked between Alex and Ed and sensed right away there was something the two men weren't telling her.

"So, what's been happening?" she asked.

"Nothing." Ed said quickly as Alex sat Norman down to walk on his own.

"Sheriff Wilson was here. What did he want?" Norma asked keeping an eye on Ed who wasn't as good at lying as Alex was.

"He was asking where I was today and yesterday." Ed shrugged.

"You?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, it was strange." Ed said. "Wanted to know where you were to. Told him you were always here. That every time I'd been here, you'd been here to."

Norma didn't miss the odd look that shadowed Alex's face.

"Mother!" Norman called. "Santa!"

Her son was pointing to the TV and there was a commercial with Santa on it.

"Thank God I didn't sleep through Christmas." she sighed in relief.

"No." Alex grinned. "In fact, I was thinking we could just bring you strait home from the hospital to the farm house."

"Doctor says no strenuous activities." Norma sighed. "Moving counts as strenuous."

"You're right." Alex agreed. "House is almost done. We can wait."

Norma yawned and Alex caught her. She was getting tired already.

"I'm going to take the boys home. They need to sleep in their own beds." Alex offered.

"Yes." Norma sighed quickly. Her eyes feeling heavy and she started to nod off during the opening sequence of 'It's a Wonderful Life'.

~ Alex didn't take the boys home. At least not right away. He'd neglected his duties to the farm house and to Lucy.

"This will be our house?" Dylan cried in joyful rapture as he tore through each room intent on destruction the way only little boys are. Norman, still bogged down by his cast and light pain medications, was happier to have Alex carry him around and observe the new house in silence.

"Wanna see your room?" Alex asked and Norman nodded.

"It's upstairs. You'll have your own room right next to Dylan and you won't have to share a bathroom with your mom anymore. She's really happy about that." Alex explained.

There had been some concern about Norman sleeping in his own room alone. It had never been done before and the youngest child had a reputation for not sleeping well on his own.

"What do you think?" Alex asked when Norman had been given enough time to explore the bedroom his mother had painted a cheerful yellow for him.

Norman looked skeptical at the single bed and lonely floor to ceiling bookcase Chick had built. On the other side of the wall, Dylan's room was the mirror opposite. Only his room was a mint green. Norma had set aside a small guest bedroom painted in pale blue for Violet should she come to stay with them. Complete with a princess style daybed Chick had found at a yard sale and fixed up till it looked new.

"Norman, we have our own rooms!" Dylan shouted and was already making plans for how he would use his own space.

"Yeah, your mother and I are going to be really impressed with all the good grades you're going to get from doing your homework at that desk." Alex warned him.

Dylan fell quite and looked at the little school desk tucked neatly in the corner with the shelves over it that were bare for now but Alex hoped to fill with trophies and other achievements soon.

Norman was uncertain about his bedroom and wanted to leave.

"Your brother will be right next door." Alex assured him.

He picked up the little boy again and went to check on Dylan who was still exploring his bedroom.

"You know, that room across from yours used to be my bedroom when I was a kid. Your mother is turning it into a sewing room." he told Dylan. It was Alex's turn to be uncertain. Norma had Chick paint his old bedroom a soft cream color and lined it with more storage for all her crafting plans. Alex didn't mention that it would make an equally good nursery.

"Wow!" Dylan smiled.

"Yeah and that desk was my old school desk." Alex pointed out.

Dylan seemed less impressed.

"Boys I need to ask you something." he said and put Norman down again. The younger child seeming much more comfortable being in the same room as his brother than in a room alone.

"What?" Dylan asked as Norman examined Alex's old desk from high school.

"Well, you two are the only men in your mother's life and it's only right that I ask your permission." Alex said taking a seat on Dylan's bed.

The boys looked at him curiously and Alex went on.

"See, long time ago, a man would ask a girls' father for his permission to marry her. Your mom doesn't have her father around anymore and the two of you are the most important men in her life." Alex explained. "So, I'm asking for your permission to marry your mom."

"Oh, yeah!" Dylan said brightly. "Yeah, you can marry her."

"Okay." Norman said simply.

Rarely did Norman give consent to these things without an argument, so Alex was a little surprised.  
"Well, thank you." he smiled. "Remember, when you want to get married, you have to ask the girls' father first."

"Well, what if her father says no?" Dylan asked realistically. "Can I marry her anyway?"

"Sure." Alex told him carelessly. "Now, we have to take Lucy out for her exercise. I'll let you and Norman drive a little if you promise not to tell your mother and we'll just stay in the back pasture."

 **I got a request to update a story that I don't think I wrote or had anything to do with. Sorry.**


	89. Chapter 89

89.

~ Norma couldn't shake the nightmares and feelings of anxiety; not even after Alex took her home and she saw the Christmas decorations he and the boys had so thoughtfully put up to welcome her.

She'd rejected the whole idea of someone coming into her home and helping her clean and cook. Despite always feeling worn out and overwhelmed, she would never allow someone else to cook in her kitchen or do her laundry. Still, she found it hard to maintain focus most of the time. Her mind wandering back to the crash or to some dream she'd had that still lingered in her mind and wouldn't let her go.

Next thing she did know, something was burning on the stove, or she'd forgotten to do some random task.

She'd been lucky to take off of work for the entire two weeks. Hilary understanding and not wanting to lose such a valuable cook, but for how long?

Norma felt the anxiety, the same type that flooded her with dread when she was a child, resurfacing for no reason at all. This panicked need to run, to get away from monsters she couldn't see.

~ "What is it?" Alex whispered in the darkness a few days after she'd come back home. A nightmare had kept her from feeling safe and she couldn't even stand to feel Alex's touch on her.

She'd had a nightmare of being trapped in a fog again. That her limbs were all cut off and her eyes and mouth were sewn shut. She would try to scream for help and nothing would come out.

"I'm okay." she muttered and slipped away when Alex tried to catch hold of her.

"Another nightmare?" he asked when she escaped to the hallway.

~ In the bathroom, hidden in the tampon box whee Alex and the boys would never think to look, Norma hid the perception medication no one knew about. She hated the idea of taking them, these anxiety meds, but in a few minutes, she'd be fine. She wouldn't feel drugged, but she worried constantly that Alex or worse yet, the boys would suspect she needed medication to calm down.

She shouldn't need medication feel calm. The accident wasn't that bad after all. No one was killed and the insurance was even paying for a better car.

Norma slid onto the floor of her bathroom and hummed to herself till she could feel the medication kick in. She counted things she loved like counting sheep. The way Norman and Dylan felt when they were babies and they would kick inside her belly. Norman's feather like hair. Dylan in his little scout uniform. Alex holding Norman that first time. The way Alex carried her into their bedroom the first time they made love. Wearing a new dress that she felt beautiful in. Alex calling her boys his…

She let out a deep breath and felt herself relax.

~ Alex heard Norma creep back into their bedroom after about fifteen minutes. He'd noticed the change in her personality since the crash. Her lack of confidence. The general anxiety that seemed to hang over his tiger. It was something he didn't like, and he wanted her back.

He needed her back. He'd never realized how attracted he'd been to the assertive woman who knew what she wanted and was fearless in everything she did. Since coming home from the hospital, Norma had, understandably, been a little timid and even scared.

She'd been far too willing to compromise and even allowed the boys to skip bath night.

"Feeling better?" he asked when she collapsed back into bed next to him.

"Yeah." she said. "Just needed…"

He waited for her to finish but she refused to go on.

"Its' normal." He said at last.

"What is?"

"To feel a little off. After what happened. I know it's scary. You almost died." Alex told her.

"I'm fine." she whispered in the darkness.

~ "Bob Paris and Rebecca Hamilton have been gone over a week now." Wilson said that Monday afternoon.

"Oh?" Alex asked. "Surprised you weren't banging down my door asking about his whereabouts."

"Didn't need to. Hospital witnesses and video monitoring have you all over the hospital during the time in question." Tom said. "I already went through everything."

"I see." Alex said and rubbed Graceland's head. "Where do you think they've gone off to?"

"We don't know but Rebecca's apartment still has her things in it. Her mother is very worried." Tom said.

Alex had never thought too much about Rebecca's family. Their time together, it felt like a lifetime ago now, wasn't exactly spent discussing that sort of thing.

"Maybe he took her to Paris or something." Alex offered.

"We're having their passports checked out now." Tom told him.

"Any reason Bob Paris would have to run?" Alex asked.

"Why would you ask that?" Tom asked suspiciously.

"We both know what he was involved with." Alex said. "The DEA. Were they closing in by any chance? He could have taken Rebecca and run."

"Maybe. The DEA doesn't include me on much, Alex." Tom said.

"We'll, hopefully, they'll turn up at the Canadian border." Alex said.

"Hopefully." Tom said. "Hopefully you didn't do anything stupid."

"Well, like you said, I was at the hospital the past few days with Norma. When would I have found the time?" Alex said smugly.

~ It was a few days after coming home when Norma checked the mail and saw an official looking letter addressed to Alex from some law office in Colorado.

' _Who does he know there?_ ' she wondered and glanced at the law office name that was stamped on the return address.

She dropped the rest of the mail in the snow and Dylan was shouting at her that Alex's issue of Sport's Illustrated would get ruined before her thoughts cleared up enough to come back to her.

"Um… go back inside, it's too cold to be out here." she said watching Dylan pick up the rest of the mail that had fallen when she saw that John Massett had written Alex.

"It's not that cold." Dylan argued. He'd been bundled up with several layers along with his brother and the boys had been chasing each other in the new snow that had finally arrived last night.

"Just go inside." she told them. Somehow, she was unable to summon that same fire when her children talked back to her now. It felt more like she was bargaining with them.

~ She opened John's letter to Alex and saw the legal document's inside dictating that, if Norma was willing, John Massett was willing to sign over his paternal right to the minor child Dylan James Massett so he could be adopted by Alex Romero.

Norma was confused. When had Alex been in contact with John? She hadn't seen her first husband since Dylan was two. Why would John, why now, would he be willing to give up his rights? She had never asked him to. Never asked him for anything regarding Dylan.

Norma saw the handwritten note that accompanied the document and it was like she was that scared sixteen year old girl again. That girl who used to sneak out of the house with John when things were really bad at home. John Massett, who was her best friend, who held her hand at parties. Who slow danced with her and who showed her sex wasn't as brutal and horrible as she thought. It wasn't until she was with John that she learned that sex could be quite lovely. It wasn't normal that sex was something forceful, painful and horrible.

She'd always felt safe and comforted with John, just as she did with Alex, and it broke her heart that they couldn't make it work. If only Dylan had really been his. Maybe then they could have had a chance.

She didn't give it a second thought about invading Alex's privacy before reading the note. She was the one who felt her privacy had been compromised by Alex going behind her back and contacting John.

She would decided now, some of that fire returning, if she would even tell him about this.

 _'Alex,_

 _Finished the paperwork for Dylan like you asked. I'm really glad Norma is doing so much better and that Dylan and his brother are at home with you already. It must have been really scary to have this happen._

 _I'm thankful that she has you to look after her._

 _June is fine and the baby is due in three months. We're going to name him Benjamin. If you want to tell Dylan, or Norma, that's up to you. I agree that you and Norma should focus on making the boys one solid family, and not worry about the complexities of half siblings. At least not for now. Maybe when the boys are older we can all talk to them._

 _About what we discussed on the phone yesterday, I can look into it, but until there is more information, its' best to leave that sort of thing alone. You don't want to go sticking your nose into something and cause more trouble for yourself._

 _Again, call me anytime. I've worked mainly with corporate criminal defense but got my start in public defense. If I can't help, I can recommend some good people._

 _I wish I could have seen Norma while in Oregon but I agree she wouldn't have liked the stress. That accident, her children being in danger, was enough without adding me into the mix. Norma was always a good mother._

 _I've enclosed a few pictures of Norma with Dylan. Use your best judgment on if you want to show them to her. I kept the originals._

 _John Massett.'_

Norma fished in the large envelope and pulled out a smaller envelope that was clearly filled with pictures.

She felt a rush of anger that quickly faded at the sight of her younger self. She'd forgotten herself. A teenager, not that long ago now, with dirty blond hair and who was painfully thin. Who's clothing was ragged and yet, she somehow made it look stylish and hip.

She and John were hanging out by a creek and it suddenly struck Norma how much he looked like a younger version of Alex. The two of them could have been brothers. John wore his hair much shorter then and wouldn't be caught dead without his stupid letterman's jacket for baseball and track and field.

Sill, they looked like a pair that didn't belong together. John was a strait A student athlete from a good family with high ambition and Norma was… well she was that strange Norma Calhoun who no one really wanted to know about.

She flipped over the pictures of her in John in school. At dances and parties together, at senior prom in her sad rented dress. The snap shot of them on the day they got married at City Hall. John's parents boycotting the wedding because they hated Norma so much for stealing their son away.

John holding a newborn Dylan. The baby crying in his arms and that smile that had first attracted her to him.

That's when the pictures ended. When their happiness ended. When Dylan clearly showed he wasn't John's son at all and their love affair, that sweet and tender thing had fallen apart.

~ Alex arrived home and felt the current in the air had changed. Felt that things were different.

"We had to stay inside most of the day." Dylan complained loudly as soon as he walked inside.

"Well, you were lucky." Alex told him. "I had to be outside in the cold."

He spotted the chicken soup on the stove Norma was making and was thankful she seemed to be returning back to herself. He suspected she was taking the anxiety medication he knew the doctor had prescribed and they were helping bring her back to herself.

"Where's your mother?" he asked when he couldn't find Norma right away.

"In her room." Dylan sulked and went back to coloring with Norman at the kitchen table.

"Why don't you boys get washed up for dinner?" he said.

"The table's not set." Dylan pointed out.

"Well, then set it." Alex ordered with slightly more assertiveness than he was used to using with the boys. "You're old enough now to help your mother out with chores. She shouldn't have to do everything for you, Dylan."

Dylan looked shocked and exchanged looks with his younger brother as Alex left them in the kitchen to check on Norma.

~ Just as he suspected, Norma was in their bedroom. Her little cigar boxes, Caleb's included, were out and she was shuffling about the tattered threads of her childhood.

"I left dinner on the stove." she said from her position on her chair by the bed. It was as though she were in a command center, organizing things at a rapid and important pace.

"Norma?" Alex asked looking over the trinkets that a less discerning eye would mistake for trash.

"Remember this?" she said with a false smile. That false smile she so bravely put on from time to time. "You gave this to me when the boys and I were still at that motel. When we first came to White Pine Bay."

"My card." Alex nodded and noticed the edges were bent and slightly worn down. His handwriting with his name and office phone number was written on the back.

"You saved it?" he asked as she carefully tucked it into the cigar box along with other papers that only had value to her.

He noticed Dylan and Norman's birth certificates were out. Each child born in a different state with different seals making everything official. Little newborn footprints peeking out of the paper as Norma quickly folded them away again.

"I… um.. I used to keep it on me all the time." she admitted with embarrassment. "Whenever I was scared. When you told me how Sam had been released. I was worried. I used too hold it in my hands because it made me feel better." she admitted without looking at him.

"I didn't know that." Alex said approaching her with caution. She was like an easily frightened animal just now. A wounded animal that was fierce and still deadly if it felt threatened in anyway.

"Silly I know." she sighed and closed the cigar box.

She finally looked up at him and he saw she'd been crying. Her eyes a blazing blue that were that brilliant sapphire. Something so beautiful, you could never put a price to.

"A letter came in the mail today." she said. "From John Massett."

Alex didn't pretend to be surprised. He could have kicked himself for not giving John his work address instead of his home address where Norma was sure to check the mail first. Norma was prolific about things like checking the mail and keeping on top of the bills. She knew, better than most accountants, when bills were due and when they should arrive and when was the latest they should go out.

"Why didn't you tell me you had called him?" she asked.

"Because I didn't call him." Alex answered simply. "You were hurt. You were unconscious and there was nothing I could do for the boys. I had no rights to them, Norma. I couldn't even take them home till you got better. John had to be called."

She looked frustrated. As if this wasn't the right answer.

"Tom and Tess-"

"Are not blood relations." Alex interrupted feeling like Sybil. "I tried, Norma. I really did. I tried to get a judge to expedite an emergency custody for me but he wouldn't do it. I'm just the boyfriend. I had not rights to them at all. John had to be called in."

Norma looked back at him as though he'd failed her.

"I'm sorry." he breathed.

"You talked to him." she accused and handed him a handwritten letter along with the legal documents he'd asked for.

"I did." Alex said. "He seemed very nice. He's a lawyer in Colorado. He's married now."

"With a baby on the way." Norma sighed and looked even sadder.

"He had nothing but kind things to say about you." Alex offered.

"Like what?" she asked curiously.

"That you were his first love and all that. That he cared for you very much."

"That he hates me." Norma said spitefully.

"He didn't seem to hate you." Alex told her.

She shook her head and fished out a ring box from the nest of papers.

"He's signing away custody of Dylan." she said.

"Because I asked him to."

"Why?"

"So I can adopt him." Alex said calmly. "So I can adopt both Dylan and Norman when we get married. So that they'll have two parents who are looking after them."

Norma opened the ring box and showed him the plain gold band inside.

"He couldn't afford an engagement ring." she said with a weak and nostalgic smile. "That was okay."

She handed Alex the wedding band and nodded for him to look at the inside.

"He had it engraved. Norma and John." she sighed. "First piece of jewelry I ever owned that had my name engraved on it. First and last. Sam bought my wedding set at a pawn shop and I was happy to pawn it again after you arrested him. It was enough for first and last months rent. Money well spent."

"Why did you save this one?" Alex asked putting the ring back into its' ring box.

Norma took it back and looked over the sad little token of her brief marriage.

"Like you said. First love." she explained. "It was my fault. I ruined things. I ruin everything."

"John doesn't feel that way."

"You and him are fiends now?" Norma accused.

"Do you not want us to be?" Alex asked.

Her fire was coming back and he envisioned himself as some foolish ring master at a circus trying to tame an ill tempered tiger with nothing more than a whip. His tiger snarling and ready to swipe at him if he made the wrong move. It was exhilarating.

"I'd rather you not be best friends with my ex-husband, Alex." she said. "It's bad enough you and Ed seem to be getting along."

"Fair enough." he laughed.

She seemed a little annoyed that he found the whole thing funny. He and Ed **had** been getting along lately. An odd sort of truce over their mutual concern for Norma. Her nearly dying had caused them to care less about their rival for her affections, and more about her return to normal.

"John sent pictures." Norma said. "Please tell me he's gotten bald and fat since I knew him."

Alex didn't care about the pictures Norma handed him of John. His focus was on his tiger. She looked fierce and formidable even then. A girl he would have been afraid to approach in the hallways of high school because she would surely break his heart and maybe steal his car. Perhaps all in one day. She'd probably make beg her to do it again.

"Actually, people are saying around town that he and I look like twins. That the Old Bear must have had some kind of an affair and he's my long lost half brother." Alex tormented her. The imaged of himself cracking a whip and his tiger giving off an offended growl before swiping a deadly paw at him flashed in his mind.

"Don't tell me that!" Norma huffed. "I don't want to hear that he's as handsome as you."

"Sorry, baby." Alex smiled and loved looking over the girl with the ripped jeans and the faded band t-shirt with no bra on. She was a far cry from the Norma he knew now. His mother would not have approved of him dating this girl at all.

' _Very bad girl._ ' he thought to himself with a grin.

Norma, seeming to read his mind snatched the pictures away from him and looked annoyed.

"I didn't tell you about John because you'd be upset. Doctors wanted you to stay calm." he explained.

"I know." she said and clutched the pictures to her chest.

Her face went soft as though she were lost at sea with no hope of rescue.

"I know things have been different since the accident." she tried to explain.

"Norma." he said and sat down on the bed opposite her. "I know you've been taking the anxiety medications the doctor prescribed."

"No, I haven't." Norma said defensively. "What anxiety medication?"

"It's okay. If you need them, you have to take them. You were in a very bad car-"

"I don't need them, Alex."

He took a deep breath and let it out.

"I know you think that taking medication like that makes you weak, but it doesn't." he told her.

"If I was taking something like that, I wouldn't be able to take care of the boys, would I?" she asked hotly.

"Norma, I'm a cop. I notice when you get up and night and how you're in the bathroom for half an hour. How you'd toss and turn with nightmares, how you were unfocused and slept too much and how you hated loud noises. Then you started taking them and it was like you could function again." he explained.

She refused to look at him.

"This is helping and it's nothing to be ashamed of." he reminded her.

A thought occurred to him. A memory of the last time she had to use medication and the side effects of it.

"It's nothing like using the pain medication for your arm. When you felt doped up and couldn't protect Dylan from Shelby. This is nothing like that." he reminded her.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." she said and pulled the legal documents for Dylan aways from him.


	90. Chapter 90

90.

~ Alex had never dealt with a sleepwalker before and wasn't exactly sure how to handle such a situation when Norma started to wander around the house in the middle of the night with no apparent focus.

He'd learned from boy scouts to never wake a sleepwalker and to do so would make them upset, but he also pictured sleepwalking to be someone with their arms out front in a zombie like pose with their eyes closed.

What Norma did was her same routine, only it was like it was like watching a malfunctioning bumper car. Her depth perception off and she'd casually knock things over and neglect picking them up again.

When she first started doing it, a few days after Alex brought her home, he wasn't sure what to make of the strange phenomena. She would leave their bed around midnight, wander about the living room, always with Graceland watchfully by her side. Then she'd get dressed, put make up on and lay back down again. All while the rooms were totally dark and without being able to answer him when he called to her.

She'd wake up in the morning wondering why she was dressed and Alex wasn't sure how to explain her odd behavior in the night. Thinking it might just be stress related and that her sleepwalking was something that may clear up on its' own.

A week later, things became much more concerning.

After the letter from John arrived, Alex sensed that Norma was still upset. Sometimes she would talk about these things, sometimes she wouldn't. He never pressed the issue. He never asked about Sam and the abuse she endured with him. Never asked for details about her childhood. Likewise, Norma never pressured him for details about his own sad story. They respected each other's battle scars and didn't demand authenticity.

Still, he wised she had never found out John had come. To drag up the past, even if the man meant well, seemed to trouble Norma.

~ The early morning after the letter arrived, Alex felt Norma's side of the bed was cold. He was used to being able to pull her body to him for added warmth now that the real freeze of winter had hit White Pine Bay and Christmas was in just a few days.

Dylan and Norman were particularly excited about their first real Christmas and no expense had been spared on the part of the grownups to make this Christmas the best ever. Alex and Norma had planned a rather elaborate visit from Santa this year. One that neither one of them had ever experienced as a child.

Alex woke up to the biting freeze even with the covers over him and guessed the boiler was out again.

' _Damn it_.' he thought angrily rolling over and trying to summon up the courage to relight the boiler so the house could warm up. The last thing the family needed right now was Dylan and Norman getting sick with a cold. The house felt like an icebox just now.

Alex looked and saw Norma's side of the bed was abandoned and that it was still dark outside. The alarm clock by her bed saying it was barely midnight.

"Norma?" he called out. He didn't want her messing with the boiler and blowing up the house. Besides, fixing the boiler was the man's job. Just like mowing the grass and killing the really big scary spiders in the bathroom.

He winced at how cold the hardwood floors felt on his feet and quickly found his slippers and robe.

"Norma?" he called again when he went into the hallway and found the rest of the house was even colder than that bedroom.

"Alex!" came a panicked little voice and Dylan ran towards him in the darkness. His face as white as a sheet.

"Dylan, what are you doing out of bed? Why is so cold in here?" Alex demanded.

"Mom just left. She went outside and I can't get her to come back in." Dylan said quickly.

"What?" Alex asked. The snow was already inches deep and coming down hard outside.

"She- she came in our bedroom, and tucked us in… and it was strange." Dylan said. "She wasn't normal. She wouldn't talk."

"Go back to your room with your brother." Alex ordered and saw the front door was wide open with snow already swirling inside.

~ It took Alex just a few seconds to put on real shoes and decent jacket before he could and find Norma. He got the brightest flashlight in the house and charged out the door with the beam on and shouting her name.

The snowfall had slightly obscured her trail, but in the deep snow, a woman her size wearing just a flannel night dress and no shoes, wouldn't get very far.

Still, in the dark and with the snow coming down, it was easy to get turned around.

Alex spotted Graceland first. The large dog having gone out with her mistress in the snow, no doubt sensing something was wrong and wanting to protect her. Graceland was barking and whining but Norma seemed to be a world away from anyone.

Norma was standing perfectly still just where the lane came to a dead end with the dog pacing about nervously next to her. Her white night dress seeming to illuminate with the snow as she pondered whether or not to venture into the woods.

"Norma!" Alex shouted with the first real sense of anger he'd ever felt at her.

She didn't jump or start at him shouting at her. Her expression remained blank and unchanging even as he came to her side and tried to bring her back to reality.

"Baby!" he shouted. "Norma, come back inside! Right now!"

"The fog is everywhere." she said in confusion. "Can't get out."

She was still barefoot, still at risk of frostbite and, rather than try to coax her back inside, he simply lifted her up and carried her.

She was lighter, and more cooperative than she looked. Her body fitting neatly into his and her arms wrapping thankfully around his shoulders. Grateful for his presence here, if nothing else as the dog trotted eagerly beside them towards home.

"We're going to get you back inside." He whispered reaching the driveway and finally the front door.

Dylan, disobeying his orders, was waiting for them and opened the front door as soon as Alex reached it. Saving him the trouble of putting Norma down to open it.

"Thank you." he whispered to the little boy. "Go run some warm water in the bathtub. Your mother needs to soak in it to get warmed up."

Dylan nodded and raced to the bathroom. Eager to do as he was told.

Alex gently placed Norma on the sofa and Graceland jumped up beside her. Her pink tongue licking her cheek.

"Norma?" Alex questioned. He could hear the bathwater being run as he ran his hands over her bare feet. They felt just like ice and he was afraid of frostbite.  
"Owe!" Norma winced when he started to squeeze them to get the blood circulating again.

"You were sleepwalking." Alex explained when he saw her eyes, a bright blue, were gazing at him in shock.

"That hurts." she whimpered and Graceland moved closer to her. The fearsome police dog wanted to cuddle on her lap.

"Mom?" Dylan asked nervously from the kitchen. Alex glanced back and saw that Dylan looked scared.

"She's fine." he said quickly. "Is Norman okay?"

"Yeah." Dylan nodded.

"Okay, good. Your mom is going to take a bath and then she's going to go back to bed. You need to go to bed to." Alex said.

Dylan still looked worried, but nodded and retreated back to the bedroom he shared with his brother.

Alex turned his attention back to Norma. His hands kept kneading her feet till all the ice feeling was worked out.

"What happened?" Norma asked when Alex tried to help her stand. Her feet seeming too stiff to move.

"You were sleepwalking again." he told her.

"What the hell to you mean **again**?" she demanded and cried out in pain from standing up.

Alex quickly lifted her up and carried her to the bathroom. Dylan, good son that he was, had even added some of Norman's bubble bath to the water.

"You've been doing it a few nights now." he explained. "Nothing as bad as this. Just wandering the house a little."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked when he neatly pivoted and sat her on the edge of the bathtub.

"Didn't want to upset you." he explained. "This isn't going to be pleasant, baby, but we have to get you warmed up. You were out there in the snow, your feet are still too cold."

She gasped and cringed when slowly placed her feet into the warm water. She couldn't bare to have them in for too long and had to Alex had to keep encouraging her to soak them in the water again. By the time her feet were back to their normal color. The bathwater had become tepid.

"I was dreaming about the fog again." Norma sniffed and flexed her toes in the water. The bubbles had, sadly, all disappeared now.

Alex sat on the edge of the tub and watched her graceful legs kick the water playfully.

"That nightmare?" he asked. "From the hospital?"

"It always feels so real." she sighed. "I keep dreaming that… that everyone thinks I'm dead. That I have to pretend I'm dead. That I can't leave that awful house and… that strange man keeps me there."

"It's not real." he assured her.

"You keep looking for me." she told him. Her eyes sparking slightly. "I keep seeing you in the fog and I know that if you get in the house, you'll…"

Her smile was suddenly beautiful and luminous. The brightest thing in his world.

"No more bad dreams." he ordered. "Dream that you're in **my** house, Norma Bates. You're in my house and I won't let you go."

"Promise?" she laughed.

"I promise." he assured her.

"Why was I sleepwalking?" she sighed.  
"I don't know. Maybe we should go see a doctor about it. A therapist. After everything that's happened." Alex offered hopefully.

"I don't believe in that." she shook her head. "It's not really helpful, and I think this is something we can work out on our own."

"Norma, you could have died out there in the snow." Alex reminded her. "Easily."

"We'll lock the doors better." she shrugged.

"Are you afraid of therapy?"

"I'm not afraid." she huffed angrily. "Why would I be afraid?"

"I've been to therapy." Alex told her.

She looked at him in surprise and he nodded.

"Yeah, after my mother died. I saw a very good doctor." he said. "He helped me. I think therapy can help you."

"You think I'm crazy?" Norma accused. "That I need anxiety medication and that I need to go to therapy?"

"I think you were sleepwalking out in the snow and that was really dangerous." Alex said sternly. "What if I hadn't gotten to you in time? What if the worst had happened?"

Norma looked a little sad but finally a faint smile flighted across her face.

"I'll go." she whispered. "But I'm not going alone."

"Fine." Alex said easily. "I'll make an appointment for both of us after Christmas."

 **Fun fact, I used to be a sleepwalker. When I was a teenager, my roommates used to say I would get up in the middle of the night, get dressed and put on my makeup in the dark. Then I would make my bed and lay back down and wake up not remembering a thing. Weird.**


	91. Chapter 91

91.

~ "Mom!" Dylan burst into their bedroom at 4am in a near panic. Norman was already crying and Alex was pulled out of a perfectly enjoyable dream that involved serenely fishing on Tom's boat and Norma making grilled cheese sandwiches. Occasionally she would proclaim how she was wrong and that fishing was indeed a great way to spend the day.

"What is it honey?" Norma groaned and rolled over. Alex already knew what the problem was. It was Christmas morning and there could be only one reason why the two boys were so upset.

"Mom!" Dylan cried again. "Santa didn't come!"

"What?" Norma asked in mock disbelief. "Are you sure?"

"Mommy!" Norman wept and crawled into bed with her.

"Boys it's 4am." Alex groaned.

"He should have been here by now!" Dylan tugged on Alex's side of the blanket. "Tommy Henderson just radioed me on my walkie talkie and told me Santa just came and he and his sister have already opened their presents."

"Oh." Alex groaned. "When did you get a walkie talkie?"

"Tommy is my best friend and we use it to talk." Dylan explained passionately.

"Tommy's that weird ginger kid that lives next door." Norma sighed.

"Oh." Alex sighed again. "That kid is weird, Dylan. I don't want you playing with him."

"Santa didn't come!" Dylan almost shirked and Alex finally sat up out of bed.

"Dylan stop crying." Norma ordered and sat up out of bed herself.

She and Alex threw on robes and went to go investigate the mysterious absences of presents under the tree.

~ "Well, it looks like he missed us." Alex said and Norma tired to hide a smile from the boys.

"Mom!" Dylan said in a panic. "Tommy and his sister got bikes! I told them I was getting a new bike to! A red one!"

He was holding the other walkie talkie and looked heart broken over the absence of presents.

"Let me see that." Alex said as the odd little ginger boy next-door annoyingly bragged about his new bike and action figures over the static. Alex took the walkie talkie away and turned it off.

"I think I know what the problem is." he announced to the room as Norman wiped his face free of tears.

"We were good all year and Santa screwed us over!" Dylan announced bitterly.  
"Dylan!" Norma couldn't contain her laughter this time. Her son looked like an angry old man just now who was told his insurance rate would double.

"I think the problem is that we don't have a fireplace, boys." Alex explained cooly. "There's no place for Santa to deliver the presents."

Dylan and Norman seemed to consider this logic for a moment.

"Yeah." the older boy reasoned. "Yeah. Maybe he left them outside?"

"Or maybe he thought we already moved to the farm?" Norma suggested.

"We have to go to the farm house!" Dylan shrieked and Norman suddenly screamed like a girl and causing Graceland to bark at the sudden commotion at an odd hour.

"He left our presents there!" Dylan ran to put on his shoes and a coat as Alex and Norma exchanged delighted and knowing looks.

~ "That makes sense!" Dylan was saying while Alex drove them in the deputy's SUV with lights flashing down the farm road. "The farm house has a fireplace. Santa could get in. I can't believe we didn't think of that!"

"I'm scared!" Norman said.  
"Of what?" Dylan asked.

"That man comes into people's houses?" Norman asked.

"He's a nice man." Norma promised.

"Yeah, he brings us presents." Dylan reasoned and rubbed Graceland's head who of course had joined the family this Christmas morning.

"Now boys, don't go running into the house-" Alex sighed as soon as the SUV came to a halt and Dylan and Norman were out the door and were bounding to the front porch.

"Thank God you keep it locked." Norma laughed.

"You know I have a shift today right? I had almost no sleep." Alex sighed.

"It's Christmas morning with the kids." Norma reminded him getting her camera ready. "This is what life is all about."

Dylan and Norman were jumping up and down with excitement in the cold and waiting for the grown ups to let them in.

No sooner had Alex turned the key and flicked on the lights, than there were screams of delight the likes of which they would both remember.

Dylan had his new bike. The nicest one Alex could find in Portland. The boys had matching toy chests built by Chick and Dylan had all new baseball gear for the coming spring.

"I don't know how to ride yet, but I don't want to use training wheels. Tommy and Jesse said that training wheels are for pussies." Dylan explained as Alex helped keep him balanced on the new red bicycle that was slightly too big for him.

"Dylan!" Norma gasped horror.  
"Dylan, don't use that word." Alex scolded. Although he agreed with Tommy and Jesse about the training wheels.

"Just for that you're going to use training wheels till you're thirty!" Norma told her oldest.

~ Norman seemed perfectly happy with his new and neatly organized toy box. Norma had picked out some toys she thought he might like from the book about children with autism she'd been reading. She and Alex had been tentatively exploring getting Norman tested, but didn't want to commit. Although his need for repetitive sounds like listening to his old records over and over again was an indication from the book.

Norman seemed happiest when he could build his own world and preferred things that could help him do that. So solitary puzzle games and a new radio with kids books on cassette tape it was.

Dylan's gifts were all socially driven. A bike, sports gear, and even a small fishing kit so he could go with Alex when the bay thawed out.

"Norman." his mother prompted as her younger son ignored the family and looked over the intricate body parts and clothing of a 12 inch GI Joe action figure. Alex had insisted on that toy and Norman founded it interesting.

"Honey, we have one more surprise for you."

"It's just for you, Norman." Alex agreed keeping Dylan balanced on the red bike but also wanting to let him fall. Both of them grinning at the idea of Dylan crashing in the living room.

"What?" Norman asked.

"It's in the greenhouse." Norma said and offered her hand to Norman.

~ Chick had build the large hutch at the very end of the greenhouse so that the smell wouldn't reach the main house, but also so that the bunnies inside would be warm and safe from the outdoor elements.

Graceland seemed very interested in the four rabbits that huddled in their hutch till Alex closed the green house door on the dog. Their fur was as white as snow in the darkness till Norma turned on the lights and the bunnies started and tried to hide.

"Rabbits?" Dylan asked. "I thought you got us a dog."

"You already have a dog." Alex told him.  
" **You** have a dog." Dylan said petulantly. "When can I have a dog?"

"You're not getting a dog." Norma scolded as her younger approached the rabbit hutch on tiptoe.

"Like Alice in Wonderland." Norman said and looked wistfully at the animals in their hutch.

"That's right, honey." Norma explained. "You want to let them out?" They can be out as long as they're in the greenhouse and the dog can never be in here."

"Graceland's pretty pissed, mom." Dylan informed her.

Alex was quick to shove her oldest out of the greenhouse and leave the two of them alone to enjoy the moment together.

Norma helped her son take out a large, rather heavy, rabbit out of the hutch and gently put him on the ground. His fur was soft and warm and he hopped around without fear. Alex had already started training Graceland using a mild electric shock pad to never go near the greenhouse, so there was no smell of dog here. Thusly, the bunnies were not afraid of a place that only smelled of Norma's early vegetable garden.

Norman was highly interested, more engaged than she'd ever seen him in fact, in watching his new pets.

"It's your responsibility, Norman." she explained. "Dylan is looking after Graceland. That's **his** job. You're to look after the bunnies and change their water daily and bring them fresh food and clean their hutch."

"Do they need food and water now?" Norma asked worriedly. He looked at their water dish and their food dish and looked over the wood chips Chick had laid out when he built the large hutch.

"No, they have enough." he decided at last. "I'll check in the morning."

"Good." Norma smiled.

"They need exercise." he decided and watched the second rabbit he released hope about.

"Maybe we should just let one at a time out." Norma suggested. She wanted to tell him what to do, but the book Tess lent her had said to just make suggestions and to let the child decide.

"That way it will be easier to put him back. What do you think?" she asked.

Norman seemed to think about it.

"Yeah." he said and gently picked up the first rabbit and put him back in the hutch.

Norma watched as he put his first rabbit on the top layer so he'd be segregated from the other identical rabbits and not be 'let out' twice by accident. She thought that was very clever.

Norman allowed all his rabbits to hop around in turn before locking them away. He gave them fresh water, fresh lettuce, carrots and other veggies Norma told him were okay to feed rabbits.

"In the warm weather, we can have a pin and let them out in the grass." Norma said.

"What if a bear eats them?" Norman asked.

"A bear likes to eat bigger animals than rabbits." she told him.

It felt like a real bonding moment between them and she was proud of her youngest for showing aptitude for caring for animals. It had been a good plan that Alex and Tess had cooked up.

She and Norman shut off the lights to the greenhouse and closed the door. They wandered through the kitchen just in time to see Alex testing the sturdiness of Dylan's new baseball helmet by whacking him on the head with his new bat while he tried to stay balanced on his bike in the living room.

"Really?" Norma asked as Alex looked slightly guilty at the childish game they had been caught playing.

"We have to test it." Alex explained.

"Yeah, you don't want me to get hurt do you?" Dylan agreed.

"No, I don't care about that. You have to do that in the living room? We're going to have scuff marks all over the floor." Norma pointed out to the black marks that were already present on her newly polished hardwood floors.

"Oh, your mother's right." Alex agreed. "We'll have to wait till morning to test all your equipment."

"Thought you had to work today and that you were tired." Norma reminded him as she snapped her last picture on the camera roll of Dylan on his bike wearing his new baseball helmet.

"I do." Alex sighed but he was grinning just as much as the kids were. "But I'm not tired anymore."

"Mother!" Norman screamed in a panic and raced to her.

"What?" Norma cried out in worry.  
"Mom!" Dylan pointed to the fire place. "Look!"

Chick must have a sense of humor. He'd built a fire and allowed it to turn to ash and put boot prints there. Just enough so that it looked like Santa had landed in the fireplace and tromped around the living room.

"Oh, damn it!" Norma sighed. "It's going to take me forever to get that ash out."

"He's **real**!" Dylan gasped. "Jesse told me Santa wasn't real. He said our parents put our presents under the tree but wait till I tell him about this!"

"Jesse is an asshole, son." Alex said dryly. "I don't want you playing with him."


	92. Chapter 92

92.

~ Norma knew that holidays would take Alex was away from the family for a while. He'd been away for all of Thanksgiving and the day after. She understood that holiday travel and families getting together and the inevitable fighting that ensued would mean that no one got a break at the Sheriff's office. Not even Tom.

So, a few hours of watching the boys enjoy their gifts from 'Santa', Alex got dressed, kissed Norma goodbye and reminded her he'd be home late.

"How late again?" she asked worriedly.

"Around midnight." he said taking the carefully prepared lunch she'd made him and the change of clothes.

"Alex, that sounds awful." she sighed.

"I can crash in Tom's office if I get tired." he assured her.

"The boys will be asleep when you get home." she said following him outside to the SUV.

"Good." he said. "Then I can give you your Christmas present."

"Oh?" she grinned. "I told you not to get me anything."

"That's always a trap." Alex reminded her.  
"Well, maybe I got you something to." She shrugged casually indifferent.

"Kinda curious." he said. "What is it you think I need?"

Norma only smiled.

"We'll see deputy." she said.

"Alright." he said. "I'll see you tonight. I think we should spend the night here, don't you? We have everything set up already. The new furniture is already delivered. All we have to do is move our clothes and that's not a real rush."

Norma looked at the farm house that was almost finished. Chick had done masterful work in restoring the fine details of the exterior. Even the lattice work under the porch had been pulled out, replaced and painted a clean white. The new coat of cornflower blue with the white trim had been just the thing to make the house look new and fit for people to live in again.

Inside, Norma and Alex themselves had painted the living room a power blue and the kitchen looked perfect with the vintage subway tiles Chick had found somewhere. The large man had lined the walls of the kitchen, laundry room and both bathrooms with the tiles and had plenty more left over in case they wanted to add another bathroom in the future. Norma was sad to see the majestic pink bathroom go, but didn't want to make Alex feel unwelcome in his own home.

Chick had lovingly restored all the original details of the farm house and even added some much needed improvements that neither Norma and Alex had thought of. They hadn't thought of replacing the countertops with fossilized wood that was durable and far more unique and beautiful than marble. They hadn't thought of hand made light fixtures that Chick felt were 'art pieces' and Norma had to agree.

The best part was, much to Alex's dismay, was retiring the old retro fridge and buying a new one that made ice and filtered water. About the only thing that stayed the same in the kitchen was the original farm sink, which Norma refused to part with. The rest was stripped bare, updated, and redesigned to look vintage and modern at the same time.

A true masterpiece.

Just last month, before the accident, Alex and Norma had gone furniture shopping in Portland and bought new furniture. Norma wanting new everything for the house. A way to start fresh and to discard the ugliness of the past. New bedding, new towels, new curtains and even new dishes. They'd bought a new bed for their room. The most money she'd ever spent of furniture and Alex didn't even bat an eye at the price of it. Insisting they needed a marriage bed that was theirs alone.

A new couch, something not from the seventies and beds for the boys finished the furnishings. Everything else, dining room set, a china hutch, office desk, were all things that had been in the family for years and should be used again.

"I mean, if you want to go back to the old place tonight that's fine." Alex said. "Chick still has to do some work.

"No, you're right. We need to start moving in already." Norma said and felt slightly intimidated by the process of such a beautiful new home that was all hers. She'd never lived in a house this nice before. Her home. She'd done nothing to earn it either. Her place within its' walls was simply because Alex cared for her and wanted her there. What if the time ever came when he changed him mind and wanted her to leave?

She put on her fake smile and turned back to him.

"Have a great day!" she said breezily.

~ Christmas this year, at least at work, was worse than last year.

"Can you believe this crap, Alex?" White snorted. He'd been on duty since Christmas Eve and had already had enough.

"Family having a nice Christmas morning when the teenage daughter drops the bomb that she's pregnant with her step brother's baby." White went on as Alex watched the father of the girl shouting from the back of the police car. He'd been handcuffed and arrested after attacking not just his step son but his daughter and wife of less than a year.

"Regular 'Jerry Springer' this holiday." White sighed. "You know I wonder about all that hick inbreeding. Can't they find anyone else? The girl isn't that bad looking. If she cleaned up."

White nodded to the teenager in question. She had piercings all along her ear lobes and her eye make was too dark. In a few years time she'd be covered in cheap, meaningless tattoos that would forever brand her into a certain class.

White nodded to the boy in question and Alex knew right away their love affair was forever doomed.

He was tall and gangly. Didn't even have the common sense to put a jacket on when he came outside and insisted on smoking in front of everyone to seemingly show off that he was old enough of emboldened enough to smoke as a minor.

"You should see the inside of the house." White hissed. "I didn't think human beings lived like that. Last time I saw a place that filthy was when we served a warrant to that obese guy who locked himself in his house for two years and only ordered pizza to be delivered. I mean shit, the mom was there, the daughter. You'd think someone would have cleaned the place up. Let me tell you, Alex your'e lucky you're locking down Norma now. God only knows what you'd get stuck with if you waited."

Alex stayed quite and could see the trash flowing out of the house. It wasn't as bad as fat, pizza delivery, guy had been. Not by a long shot, but there was defiant signs the family had stopped caring about housework.

The only attempts at Christmas had been cheap twinkling lights at the window.

"You proposed yet?" White asked.  
"What?" Alex snapped out of his thoughts to how Norma would have ripped apart that clutter in under two seconds. Probably scolding the family while doing it to.

"Norma. You proposed to her yet?" White asked.

"Not yet." Alex said.

"Best not wait." White said. "Don't want to end up with 'Suzy homemaker' there."

He nodded at the mother in question who suddenly slapped her step daughter, calling her a slut. The boy, the one smoking who was going to be a father himself, did nothing. He wasn't about to cross his own mother.

"Two arrests. Lets go." White said eagerly as Alex pulled out the handcuffs and readied himself to wrestle the large woman off the teenage girl.

~ Norma liked the house. She really did. She loved her laundry room that was clean and efficient and done with left over subway tile like the kitchen. It was odd to think that less than a year ago she was folding her clean clothes at a motel laundry mat in a strange town. Now, she was in a beautiful house that looked like it belonged in one of those home magazines. She suspected Chick had sent pictures into such a magazine hoping for a feature with him as the 'artist' behind the masterpiece.

She wanted to feel elation at being inside this house with it's beautiful lines, color pallet, perfectly layered vintage subway tiles and a kitchen that anyone would hate her for. Yet it was entirely too overwhelming.

It wasn't her home was it? It was still the Romero family homestead. **Their** house. They had even moved her piano back to it's rightful spot where his mother had kept it. The hard wood floors slightly warped from the heavy piece sitting there for decades. Although everything was as she wanted, she had no real claim in it. No real stake in this lovely home. Maybe that was why she wasn't in such a hurry to surrender her old house yet. It was her safety net.

Alex hadn't proposed to her. She wasn't his wife. She wasn't a Romero. As much as she wanted to belong here, she didn't.

She finished loading the last of the laundry and watched the dryer spin. She would enjoy doing laundry in this room. It was cool, dry and sound proof here. The room was large enough that they could easily hide another large closet or even a decent half bath for guests.

She peeked out at Norman playing in her greenhouse. He was still occupied with his bunnies. Their care of critical importance. He was letting them hop around the dirty floor and explore in safety before putting them back inside. Dylan had become bored because all his Christmas gifts weren't designed for the snow.

"I'm bored, mom." her oldest sighed when he saw her.

"You want to help me bake a cake?" she asked brightly. She wanted to give her new oven a try.

"No." he said flatly.

"Well, too bad." she told him. "We haven't seen Simon in over a week and its' Christmas. We're going to take him something nice to eat and bring him those warm socks I got him."

"Do we have to go and see that old man?" Dylan asked. "That old folks home smells like piss."

"Dylan!" Norma snapped. "What has gotten into you lately? You don't use words like that!"

"It does. It smells awful there." he said defensively.

"I don't care. That's Alex's grandfather and we need to go and see him." Norma said hotly. "And you need to watch your language."

~ "You know, Norma and the two boys were here earlier." Simon said showing Alex the remains of a delicious homemade cake. "Brought me some socks and a nice sweater."

"That's good." Alex said unloading the new groceries into his grandfather's little fridge. It was a job Norma didn't take over from him. Sensing that would diminish their bond if Alex didn't have a reason to come and take care of his grandfather.

"They said you had a very nice Christmas." Simon mentioned casually. "That oldest one went on and on about his new bike and the youngest one whispered in my ear that he got rabbits."

"Yeah, we put a hutch in the greenhouse and Norman has some white rabbits he's looking after." Alex smiled faintly. "He really seemed to like them."

"That's what Norma said to." Simon nodded. "Christmas is different with little ones isn't it?"

Alex thought of the family he and White had to deal with that afternoon. About the three drunken disorderliness he'd already dealt with that day.

"It is." he admitted.  
"When you were little, your mother made a big deal out of Christmas." Simon said.

"I remember." Alex nodded. "That's why we wanted this to be special for the boys."

"I noticed Norma didn't have the ring on." Simon went on. "I keep looking for it. Keep looking for my Ellie's ring on her finger. When am I going to see it, Alex?"

"Soon." Alex assured him.

"What the hell is the hold up, Alex?" Simon demanded. "If you think you'll do better than Norma Bates, think again. You're a good-looking kid but not that charming."

Alex was used to getting lectured by Simon about not proposing to Norma sooner.

"Love you, Granddad, I'll see you next week." he said and hugged the old man.

~ It was well past midnight when Alex came home. Norma had kept the Christmas lights lit on the tress that lined the long drive and the effect was always magical. It had snowed while he was away working and the boys had taken full advantage of it. Even building a snowman in the front yard. The front porch lights were on and so were the kitchen lights meaning Norma was still milling about the house. No doubt working on something. She could always find some odd job to do to keep busy.

He saw her form appear through the front door, beautifully wrapped in a gray coat and smiling a genuine smile at last.

"You're home." she whispered. "The boys are asleep."

"Oh, good." Alex whispered too making sure not to step on the boards that creaked. Even with all the improvements to the house, that step still creaked when weighted was applied.

He nodded to her feet.

"You have shoes on?" he asked.

"Yes." she asked and looked at the rain boots she'd put on. "I was putting out the trash. Why?"

"Come with me." he said and pulled her hand so she'd have to follow him out to the orchard that was still ablaze with Christmas lights. The Lights of Winter had nothing on the Romero farm tonight.

"Alex! It's freezing out!" Norma complained with a giggle. "We're going to catch cold!"

She ran beside him to the largest tree, an apple that stood in the center of the drive.

"Norma." he sighed and saw his breath puff out from the cold. "When my grandfather was captured in second world war, my grandmother planted all these trees."

He nodded to the perfectly spaced and aged fruit bearing trees that lined the drive. "One for every month he was captured. She never gave up hope." he said.

"You told me." Norma said and hugged her arms to her chest. The cold getting the better of her.

Alex pulled her closer to him as if they were dancing.

"My grandfather lost her to cancer and he never remarried. He never got over her." Alex explained. "She was the love of his life, and he was the love of her life."

Norma smiled softly and nodded.

"That's what I've always wanted, Norma." Alex confessed. "I've always wanted a love that I would never recover from. That I could never get over. I've always wanted to love someone so passionately that I wasn't afraid to risk it all."

"Alex-" Norma started to say nervously. She gasped slightly when she saw him pull the battered ring box from his pocket.

"Alex, I'm a mess! I'm wearing rain boots!" She laughed and tears welled up in her eyes.

"You look beautiful." he assured her. He opened the box his grandmother's engagement ring came in. The shop in Paris where Simon had bought it from still visible after all this time.

Ellie Romero's ring blazed like fire in the lights hanging off the tress she had planted. Alex had looked it at several times that day and didn't remember it ever looking so alarmingly beautiful. Maybe the stone sensed it was back home. Or maybe it knew it was going to a new, and worthy owner, and had to shine a little brighter at this moment.

"Alex?" Norma's voice faltered.

"I need you to marry me." Alex insisted. "If you want me on bended knee fine, but it's cold with all this snow."

"Of course I'll marry you." Norma sighed and her smile became as brilliant at the ring itself.

"It's not new." Alex said apologetically pulling Ellie's ring out from the box. "It was my mother's and my grandmother's before that."

"Alex." Norma sobbed and threw her arms around his neck. "This is awful! I only got you a framed picture of me and the boys!"

Alex pulled away from her slightly and enjoyed the perfection of the moment.

"Merry Christmas, Baby." he said.


	93. Chapter 93

93.

~ "Her name is Renee and she's studied at some school in New York." Mrs. Herman went on when Norma arrived for choir practice that next Wednesday to see her place in the balcony had already been taken.

The young slender brunette was effortless in her playback and could lead the choir instead of Norma's habit of letting the choir lead her.

"Wow." Norma said after listening to a moving and soulful version of 'Let it be' sung as a church hymn.

"Yes, she very wonderful." Mrs. Herman agreed dryly. Her tone suggested she didn't care about Renee or Norma. That both women took up too much attention and space. "We had to bring her in because you were still recovering from the crash. Pastor Warren says it's just until you're better and Renee will be going back to her fancy east coast school soon anyway. I think she was just visiting her grandparents and they wanted to show her off."

"Well." Norma said politely. "They did a very good job."

"I'll be sure to tell them that. Pastor Warren likes her very much. I think he's going to be sad to see her go." Mrs. Herman added.

Norma wasn't sure why that last statement bothered her, but it did. She didn't want to admit it, but she liked being the object of Ed's attention sometimes. She wasn't sure how to feel, sharing his affection with another woman.

' _Nothing. I shouldn't feel anything._ ' she reminded herself when she glanced down at the ring Alex had given her just a few days ago. It flashed like a new star whenever the sun hit it and she couldn't help looking at. Even if she was doing something casual, like flipping through the phone book and the light danced across the cut of the stone, she had to smile at it.

Dylan and Norman had been equally impressed by the ring. The boys wanting to know when the wedding would be and would they be Alex's sons or not.

These were all answers that Norma and Alex had sidestepped for now. Things they would deal with later when the time was right.

For now, Norma suddenly had her afternoon free. She felt slightly rejected and there was a sense that she'd been replaced. There was no one to blame of course, it was no ones fault and she shouldn't feel this way, but a primitive territorial part of her wanted to rip that perfect college girl out of her balcony and tell her to go home.

"Norma?" came a familiar voice when she walked out past the door to the conference room.

"Hi, Ed." Norma sighed in defeat when she saw Pastor Warren stepping around the large table that was cluttered with papers.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. "I noticed you weren't at the Christmas service."

"Oh, Alex had to work and I wanted to stay at home with the boys. We had a nice, quite time at the farm." she said with her fake smile.

Ed's eyes widened and she realized they saw the brilliant stone on her ring finger.

"Alex proposed." he said.

"Yes." Norma admitted.

"Wow." he said. "Very nice ring."

"It was his mothers." Norma admitted and looked fondly at the ring again. "And his grandmothers."

"And you said yes?" Ed asked in disbelief.

Norma looked back at him in slight alarm.

"Of course I said yes." she said.  
"It's just, you were planning a wedding and he hadn't proposed officially yet." Ed amended.  
"So, you thought we weren't serious?" she asked.  
"No, that's not what I meant."

"We're serious." She said calmly. "We're getting married and Alex is adopting the boys. The farm house is almost done and we've started to move in. It's really beautiful, Ed. You should come by sometime."

"Maybe I will." he said. "If Alex wants me there."

Norma felt slightly uncomfortable and nodded to choir practice. Renee, the perfect piano player, was clearly better than she could ever be and was at it again.

"She's really good." Norma nodded.

"Renee McFarris." Ed told her. "Her grandparents are members. She came down for the holiday break to visit them. She's a senior at NYU. Classical music major. She plays harp and sings to."

"Wow." Norma said. Her tone sounding sarcastic and rude even though she didn't mean for it to. "I heard the two of you are getting along very well."

Again, she didn't mean for such a thing to sound so rude. She didn't care if Ed had met the perfect girl and they fell in love. She had Alex. She had a beautiful home and her sons had a good father. She had it all. She certainly didn't need Ed Warren.

"We get along just fine, Norma." Ed said suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Norma said quickly. "I'm just… really happy for you."

"You don't have to marry him, Norma." Ed said suddenly.

She looked back at him in slight amazement.

"You don't have to marry him." he said again. "I know that Alex was the first guy you met here in town and you think that maybe you owe him for what happened to your husband, but you don't owe him anything."  
"Ed." Norma sighed.  
"I care for you." Ed whispered softly. "I've always cared for you. I've tried not caring for you… and…"

Norma refused to look at him.

"You know, I can see our lives together?" Ed admitted. "It's very peaceful."

"Ed." she sighed.

"Sheriff Romero was a horrible womanizer. Most cops are. Their wives just accept it. I would never do that to you, Norma. I would never be unfaithful to you, or hurt you. I think you know that. How long before Alex starts seeing someone else behind your back?" Ed asked.

"Stop it." Norma warned.

"How long before your trapped in a marriage that you're only staying together for the kids? For the safety and security?" he challenged.  
"Ed." she breathed.

She hadn't realized the music in the church had stopped and that practice was on break.

"Stay with me. You know I would never do that to you. I'd give anything to be with you." Ed breathed.

"Don't make me hate you." Norma warned.

"Ed?" came a cheerful voice from behind them and Norma and Ed turned to see the beautiful brunette that had been leading the choir practice.

"You must be Norma Bates. I'm Renee McFarris." she said brightly. To say she was active was an understatement. She looked like Audrey Hepburn had suddenly left the 1950's and joined them in the present. She had to be Norma's age but clearly had lead a far more privileged and enchanted life. The kind of life Norma couldn't have imagined.

Within minutes, Renee was telling her about her travels to China and South Korea and how she had even played in Russia. How she'd worked with some famine relief agency and seen remarkable things in her young life.

"Traveling is so amazing but my stomach was not up for it." Renee admitted with a laugh. "I have to be honest…" she looked around the hallway in case people were listening. "We are so spoiled to have flushing toilets. It was such a luxury to come back to the states and be able to sit down on a clean commode again."

Norma didn't want to like this woman, but couldn't help it. She found the story too funny and too relatable.

"It's the little things you miss. You're really humbled touring these impoverished farm lands and seeing how they live. Then you come home and, you actually feel sick to your stomach at how grand and opulent you're three hundred square foot studio apartment in Washington Park is." Renee said.

"With no kitchen." Ed added.

"With no kitchen, because it's New York and no one cooks." Renee shrugged.

"No one cooks?" Norma asked in confusion. "How do you eat?"

No wonder this girl was so skinny.

Apparently Renee thought this was very funny.

"Ed told me you're a woman of many talents. That you can cook and play piano. I would love it if you would give me some lessons. I'm all about self improvement." Renee said eagerly.

"What else did Ed tell you?" Norma asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, only good things. Except that awful car accident." Renee said with real horror. "Just awful. What the hell is wrong with people that they are in such a hurry? They have to drive a woman off the road and everything?"

"Who knows what the hell people are thinking." Norma said coldly glaring at Ed.

~ Norma had been uneasy about getting behind the wheel again, but Alex insisted she get back on the horse and show no fear.

Buying her a 1972 Mercedes at a Portland police auction didn't hurt either. The car, like her ring was her Christmas present and both objects seemed meant for her. They were things that seemed to love her back and made her happy to see them.

The Mercedes was a soft mint green and was unique not only because of it's age, but because it didn't conform to the compact, one size fits all of cars in parking lot. Her new car had room and was comfortable to drive.

It had low millage and according to Alex, had belonged to some drug lord who was doing time in San Fransisco. He had admitted that he was saving up for his own fishing boat, but with insurance from the crash, he was able to buy a decent second hand farm truck and Norma's Mercedes.

"Try not to crash this one, Dear." he teased when she had asked who's car was sitting in her driveway when they had gone back to the little house to pick up some more clothes.

~ "I'm sure you'll find out soon enough, but Rebecca Hamilton is back in town." Tom said.

Alex almost dropped the coffee pot but managed a slightly graceful recovery and slid it back into place.

"Oh?" he asked.

"You don't have to act all casual, Alex." Tom sighed. "She kidnapped your would be step son. It's okay to be upset."

"Where was she?" Alex asked. He sat down his mug and was thankful he could drop the pretense with Tom.

"Won't say too much about that but customs pinged her in Rome before coming back to America." Tom said.

"Bob Paris?" Alex asked.

"Nothing. Not even a blip on the radar." The Sheriff said.

"Are you going to talk to Rebecca?" Romero asked. "Find out where he is?"

"I will. I want you to stay away though." Wilson told him.

Romero put his hands up as if surrendering.

"As long as she stays away from Norma and our children, we're good." he said.

"You'll let me handle this." Tom warned.

"Of course." Alex shrugged. "I don't want to be anywhere near that woman."

He let out a sigh.  
"I'll have to tell Norma that she's back though. It's not going to go over well." he admitted.

"I'm sure it won't." Tom said.


	94. Chapter 94

94.

~ ' _I should be happy_.' Norma thought to herself. ' _Why can't I just be happy?_ '

The little house she had moved into less than a year ago was just as she'd first found it. Fully furnished and ready for the next renter. So much had happened in her time here. Sam bleeding out in her kitchen, hiding Norman under her closet floor, Alex putting a lock on their door. Replacing the glass after the break in. The flood and seeing a bear from the window.

It was more than just a place to live. She'd moved around her entire life. Her childhood had been transient and ready to pull up stakes with the changing of the wind. It was as if her parents were wild gypsies and moving several times a year was perfectly normal for Norma and her brother Caleb.

It was why she had no friends growing up. Why her education was so scattered and why she felt no real connection to anywhere. Except coming here and feeling a sense of being grounded. Here in this small and charming town surrounded by beautiful mountains, the people spoke to each other in terms of lifetimes. They remembered things from generations ago. They seemed to be idyllically caught in the past while trying to reach into the future. Never quite making it because the rose colored past was too beautiful.

Norma's own childhood held no deep roots her. Not like Sybil, or Ed or Alex. They had all grown up here. Had a place here and could name that place. They could remember the faces of the children they went to school with. Recall with perfect clarity all the embarrassing memories of childhood and how they had survived.

For Norma, at times it seemed her childhood was a best forgotten blank screen. As if it was better to have just come into existence at this moment when she was loved by Alex and entering into a beautiful home in the country with her two sons. That they would finally have a good father and she would have a wonderful husband and they would be happy.

' _I should be happy. Why can't I just be happy?_ ' she demanded of herself.

She looked down at her engagement ring and smiled. Alex had been patient with her sexually and hadn't demanded anything from her. The car accident had made things difficult for her and killed the mood between them. She found she cringed away from his touch, no matter how gentle and she resented herself for it. Just as she resented herself now for not being happy.

' _Just be happy._ ' she told herself.

She looked over her little house. The last thing that was hers. Her independence. Her freedom from a man. A place that was her home and one where if she wanted to, she could be alone. What if she and Alex had a fight? What if she didn't want to be with him anymore? What if they divorced and she was homeless again?

' _No, I did it once, I can do it again._ ' she reminded herself. She'd already decided that if they did divorce, she wouldn't try and take away his family home. Instead, she would just leave and start over again. Maybe just not tell him where she was going.

' _Stop it!_ ' she told herself. ' _Stop thinking the worst. No wonder you need therapy._ '

She was wasn't looking forward to the visit with the therapist Alex had found for her. A Doctor Edwards who held a practice not far from town.

She let out a deep breath and closed the front door to her small house. Trying to think only happy thoughts about her new home and new life.

~ Alex recognized Rebecca right away. She still had the same habit of going to her favorite cafe and ordering her favorite vegan lunch. Despite Tom's warning to stay away, Alex had taken to spying on her.

It hadn't been too hard. Rebecca thought of herself as trendy and walked everywhere when the weather was nice. She always wore brightly colored coats and was a morning person.

It was easy enough to catch up to her routine.

He scribbled in his notes that she'd begun to work as some accounting firm and maybe he would have Charlotte look into it. If Rebecca was working there, it might be a front for Bob Paris' laundering money.

It was strange to think that if Alex hadn't met Norma Bates that rainy night last spring, he might still be fooling around with Rebecca right now. Calling her up when he'd had a few too many. She'd arrive promptly and rudely tease him about how no woman would ever love him.

How their coupling would be fierce and highly sexual, even more carnal than it was with Norma, but their was no love. No real affection. It was nothing short of what animals would do. When it was over, Alex felt nothing for her and could barely stand to look at her.

With Norma, as always, things were different. She made him want her. She was made him want to protect her and cherish her. For Alex, she provided not just a sexual release, but a chance for a real life. He would no longer be condemned to be a shadow of man anymore.

Alex hand't been paying attention when there was a knock on the passenger side window and he looked in alarm at Rebecca glaring at him.

He couldn't hide the embarrassment as she made the gesture to roll the window down. He couldn't drive off because of the sudden influx of lunch traffic downtown just now and driving off would mean he felt guilty. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction. he rolled the window down.

"Are you following me, deputy?" Rebecca asked.

"No." Alex said stowing his notebook. "I didn't think you're allowed to contact me. What with you kidnapping my son and all."

"Your son." Rebecca smirked. "Cute. Well, lets not forget your little girlfriend assaulting me."

"Can't blame her." Alex shrugged.

"If you're looking for Bob Paris, Alex, you're not going to find him. That asshole abandoned me without a dime in Rome. I had to have my mother wire me some money just to fly back home. I don't even have a car anymore and she loaned me money to rent my old apartment again. Had to practically beg to get a job here." she explained.

"Why did you come back?" Alex demanded hotly. "You have no family here, Rebecca. Why did you come back to White Pine Bay? There are other towns you could have moved to. Towns where no one knows you or what you did."

"I was in a bad place, Alex." Rebecca said with a tinge of sympathy. "It wasn't me."

"It wasn't you when you kidnapped a child?"

"No." she said.

Alex glared at her and wondered how he ever could have found her attractive.

"I hear you and Norma are getting married." she said.

"Yes." Alex snapped.

"After you told me you were never getting married." she mocked him with a hallow laugh.

Alex didn't know what to say. He remembered saying that to her just last winter. She'd talked about running away with him and starting over. How they could be happy and get married he told her he wasn't ever getting married.

"I should have known when a guy says that, they really mean they won't ever marry you." Rebecca said.

She leaned away from his passenger side window.

"Wish I could say it was nice seeing you again, Alex." she said smartly and started to walk away.

~ "Ben and Vivian won't return my calls." Norma grumbled that night.

Alex was half listening while Norma arranged pictures on the mantle.

All his life that same mantle piece had held his father's baseball trophies, his parents wedding picture and the secession of his own increasingly awkward school pictures in the same standard 8x10 frame right up until his senior year. It wasn't until Alex had won state the first time that his father deemed the achievement worthy enough to make room on the sacred mantle above the fireplace for the large trophy. When he brought home the second one, they sat on either side like bookends and it was the only time Alex had ever felt remotely close to his father.

Now, the family mantle piece held nothing but a wide range of family pictures. Norma had nicely framed pictures of the boys as well as Alex's favorite picture of him and his mother. It was the one of her holding him on her lap when he was not much older than Norman. His mother hugging him so fiercely he could still feel her love for him decades later.

It had been a good time back then. Back when his mother had been young and happy. Before the darkness had found her. He noticed the Norma had placed an elegantly framed picture of Violet on the mantle. The most recent one of her holding a stuffed alligator and smiling so much like Norma it made Alex's heart hurt.

"Where are your pictures?" Alex wanted to know when she was done spacing them out and looking them over.

"I'm in that one I gave you for Christmas." Norma waving a hand at the recent picture of her holding Norman on her lap with Dylan sitting snugly beside her. The three of them smiling brightly for the camera.

"Also that one of all four of us." she waved a hand at the larger picture of them standing in front of one of Ellie's trees. Chick had taken it while the house was still being torn apart and rebuilt.

"I meant when you were little. I know you have a few." Alex said.

Norma looked uncomfortable.

"You put that old school picture of me from when I was in kindergarten up." Alex reminded her.

"You looked adorable!" Norma accused. She pointed at his school picture that had always haunted him. It had been a favorite is Simon and Sybil as well. Something about it made grown ups want to preserve him at that age forever.

"So why not your picture?" he asked.

"Maybe its' best not to live in the past." Norma sighed.

"I liked that sexy one John sent of you in the Rolling Stones shirt." Alex said.

Norma shot him a dirty look and Alex threw up his hands.

"I'm just saying, I definitely would have let you break my heart if I'd known you back then." he admitted.

"I would have to." she laughed. "I was… a wild girl back then."

"Ben and Vivian haven't returned your calls?" Alex asked. "I thought they agreed Violet could come see us."

"I know. I… I don't know what's going on." Norma sighed. "You think they don't like us?"

"It's us that don't like them, remember?" Alex reminded her.

"Mother?" Norman said coming out of the kitchen carrying on of the rabbits in his arms.

"Norman, I thought we agreed the bunnies need to stay in the greenhouse." Norma reminded him gently. Graceland, not grabbing the rabbit but wanting to smell it was following Norman attentively.

"Can the rabbit stay with me and sleep with me tonight?" Norman asked.

"No, honey. Rabbits poop and I won't have them pooping in your bed. You need to put them in their hutch like we agreed on." Norma reminded him.

"Rabbits are dumb pets." Dylan said hatefully from the kitchen.

"Dylan!" Norma snapped. "You have been so horrible lately."

"Maybe we need to give you an earlier bedtime." Alex agreed. "Maybe you're just cranky because you need more sleep."

"No!" Dylan whined.

"Too late." Alex said. "Go upstairs and brush your teeth and get ready for bed. I'll be up in a minute to talk to you about your attitude, young man."

Dylan looked murderous but when Alex refused to back down, he slowly climbed the stairs to his room.

"Do I have to go to bed?" Norman asked.

"No, but take the rabbit back to its' hutch before Graceland tries to eat it." Norma said.

She turned to Alex.

"Thanks. He's been in a mood the past few days." she sighed.

"He's getting at that age where other kids are influencing him. We can't let it affect him. We have to have standards." Alex said.

They watched Norman retreat back into the greenhouse and Graceland watched him from the doorway. The dog fascinated by Norman's pet rabbits that she wasn't allowed to interact with.

"Norma, Rebecca Hamilton is back in town." Alex sighed.

"I know." Norma said casually. "I saw her when I was at the village hardware store. Thought I was seeing things when I saw her walking past the windows there. I asked Bill Loomis* about it and he said she moved back and is working at some tax place."

"You're not upset?" Alex asked. He couldn't believe Norma wasn't mad, but she seemed perfectly collected.

"I called Tom at the Sheriff's station and placed a restraining order against her for Norman and Dylan's safety. She's not allowed anywhere near their school or daycare. You can arrest her if she comes near me. So, no, I'm not upset. Besides, I heard things about her." she sighed and seemed to let the subject drop.

"What things?" Alex asked.

"Doesn't matter." Norma said quickly. "I'll look through those old pictures of me and see if there are any I can stand. Don't hold your breath, Deputy."

~ "You can't search my car." the high school kid said when Alex arrived with Graceland. Tom had called in the K9 unit in to search the kid's car for suspected drugs and it took just a few seconds for Graceland to sniff out the stash of cocaine.

"That's intent to sell." Tom said when Alex gave him the thumbs up sign and held up three fingers. The haul was worth at least three grand on the streets.

"I'm still a minor." the kid insisted when Tom slapped the handcuffs on him and pushed him towards the Sheriff's SUV. "I'm only seventeen and I didn't give you permission to search my car."

"You had an open container, idiot and were driving without a license. We don't need your permission or a warrant." Tom barked.

Alex finished securing the teenager's car and waved in the tow truck to haul it away. It was disturbing how many random drug arrests they were making now that Bob Paris was MIA. It wasn't just weed anymore. Weed had been harmless. Now it was all kinds of drugs that would attract bigger and meaner crimes.

"I think we need to train another drug dog." Alex told Tom when Graceland was done searching the vehicle.

"I think your right. If your buddy George Helden wins the election, he might free up the budget for it." Tom said.

"Till then, I may start training a puppy on my own. Just to be ready." Alex said.

"Norma won't like that." Tom smiled and the two men watched the teenager's car start to be towed away.

"She likes Graceland more than me sometimes." Alex confessed.

The police radio blared loudly about a fight at the tavern just a mile away. That Jimmy Brennen was involved.

"I'll go." Alex said. "He'll listen to me."

"I feel for that man's daughter." Tom sighed. "Only four years old and having to deal with a father like that."

~ The bar was truly a shit hole at the far end of town. A place only the locals would go to and only the truly desperate locals. The beer was cheep and the police were called so frequently that every cop in town knew the fastest way to get there. In the early 1980s, the Old Bear had violently shut it down after a college girl had gotten raped by a gang of drunken patrons. Those men had never seen the inside of a courtroom because the DA at the time felt there wasn't enough evidence against the five men. Despite a crowded room full of witnesses, a medical report and the girl's testimony.

Such was the sad nature of the time.

So, the Old Bear being the Old Bear, he'd rounded up a few of his men, broke into a few homes and filled the ER with the five men who had been suspects. All of them had broken bones and a series of other injuries. All of them refused to say how they'd gotten them, and all of them quickly moved out of White Pine Bay never to be seen or heard from again.

Such was the nature of the Old Bear.

Perhaps it was a fitting strategy. The bar remained closed for over a decade till it was reopened with new owners and quickly became a dive bar again. Nothing quite a violent this time, but there were fights and it gained a reputation for being a rough place to be.

"Jimmy already ran off, Alex." Hank the bouncer said when Romero pulled up to the bar. "Heard the cops were coming and he lit out."

"Figures." Alex said. "Anyone hurt?"

"Nope, but your old friend Rebecca needs a ride home. She's attracting too much attention and I'd appreciate it if you took her out of here." Hank said.

The heavyset bouncer opened the door and showed Alex the inside of the filthy tavern. Alex clearly saw that Rebecca was surrounded by three drunken men at the bar. She was dressed in an extremely low cut, red dress that left nothing to the imagination. It was as if she were asking for trouble in a place like this.

Although the men were drunk, Rebecca appeared to be perfectly sober. She was having water and seemed to enjoy pushing the drunkest of the men away and letting him come back to her again.

Her eyes landed on Alex and she grinned, cat like at the Deputy.

"Thought I told you to leave me alone." she smiled.

Alex had walked up to the bar without fear. The room was crowded with men who could easily take him out even if he was armed, but they were all intoxicated and he wasn't afraid to shoot them dead.

"I need you to step away from her." Alex said cooly to the man sitting snugly beside Rebecca. His arm around her hip and his face almost resting in her breasts.

The man, Alex recognized as a married father of three young children moved away from the appealing redhead and the other men sleazed off into the dark corners from where they came from.

Rebecca shot him a dirty look.

"Why are you here?" she demanded.

"I need you to come with me. I'm taking you home." Alex said.

"That's been over a long time, baby." she snorted and took a sip of her water.

" **Your** home. I'm going to take you to your home and leave you there." he clarified. "It's not safe for you to be here."

"Your concern for my safety is so touching." she said hatefully. "And useless."

"Come on." Alex said gently pulling on her arm.

Rebecca didn't protest and instead let him take her out of the filthy bar area. The men booing Alex as he removed the only female in residence.

~ "What would Norma say?" Rebecca sighed once they were on the road back into town. "If she knew?"

"That I did the right thing." Alex said dryly. "Why were you in that place? You know it's reputation. We're you trying to get killed?"

"Maybe." Rebecca sighed.

"Maybe." Alex shook his head. "Why? Because Bob Paris dumped you?"

"No. Because Bob Paris took me to Rome for a romantic weekend after I told him I was pregnant and then left me there with no way to pay for that stupid honeymoon suite or airfare home. My mother won't even speak to me now that I told her I'm having a bastard and all I could think to do was come back here because Bob will have to come back here. Right? He still owns property here. His stupid club is here. I couldn't think of anything else to do. Anywhere else to go." she said hurriedly.

Alex felt slightly seasick.

Rebecca was pregnant? With Bob Paris' baby?

"I'm sorry." he said.

"No, you're not." she sighed. "You think I'm getting exactly what I deserve. I'll be a horrible mother. I should just abort it."

"Is that why you were in the bar tonight? Hoping one of those drunken idiots might kill you and solve all your problems?" he asked.

Rebecca was silent for a moment.

"I was feeling down, Alex." she admitted. "We can't all be as perfect as Norma Bates."

Alex reached the small apartment building in the downtown area that Rebecca rented.  
"You wanna come upstairs?" she asked hopefully. "We can talk."

"No." Alex said quickly.

"We can do other things to, deputy. Norma wouldn't have to know. Be our secret. It's always fun to have a secret life no one else knows about." she said seductively.

"Get out of the car, Rebecca." Alex ordered.

She seemed offended.

"I hope you're the one who finds my body in a ditch somewhere, Alex." she said bitterly and climbed out of the SUV. Violently slamming the door behind her.

 ***Bill Loomis. Sam Loomis' dad**


	95. Chapter 95

95.

~ "Why are we inviting Ed Warren over here again?" Alex asked petulantly.

Norma looked over the pristine living room. Her eyes combing over it for anything out of place or not representing how happy and perfect her life with Alex was. She wouldn't give it to Ed to suspect that there was any fait in their relationship or home.

Family pictures neatly arranged on the mantle.

Check.

Perfectly placed throw pillows on the comfortable couch and matching chairs.

Check.

Meticulously curated art work, most of it vintage photography that Chick had discovered and Norma had fallen in love with enough to frame and place on her own walls.

Check.

The entire house scrubbed with in an inch of its' life, laundry done, floors cleaned and everything spotless enough for the photoshoot some magazine had already been bugging Norma about.

Check.

Now all that was left was dinner and she couldn't miss with the pot roast that was already making an inviting aroma throughout the house.

"It's not just Ed." Norma reminded Alex who wasn't thrilled to learn at the list minute that they were having visitors tonight. Something Norma had planned on just so Alex wouldn't purposely stay late to work. She suspected he didn't want anything to do with dinner guests and might try to use work as an excuse.

She hadn't lied exactly, but she knew that when she told Alex how the boys were spending the night with Tess and Tom, that he was hoping for an evening more exciting than having to play host at an impromptu dinner party.

"Renee is coming with him and she's really… a very lovely girl." Norma said nervously mixing her homemade salad dressing.

"The new music director at the church?" Alex asked suspiciously.

"It's just temporary." she reminded him. "She's nice."

"Why do you want Ed here so badly?" Alex asked. He'd been a little slow and negligent about setting the table. He was used to prepping a table for normal dinners that involved two unruly children. Not something that involved wine glasses, real napkins and several sets of silverware.

"Alex, that's not where the salad fork goes." Norma told him. She left her own work to show him how to properly dress the table.

"Salad forks." Alex sighed. "Since when did we ever used salad forks, Norma?"

"Since I want to show Ed, and anyone else who doubts it, that we are a nice family. We have a beautiful home and… that's all." she said nervously.

Alex gave her a sideways look.

"I see." he murmured softly.

~ "This place is so amazing!" Renee gushed when she arrived with Ed who promptly handed over a decent bottle of wine to Alex.

Romero, for Norma's sake, would pretend that everything was fine tonight. Yet, he felt that something was deeply wrong between her and Ed. The way they shyly avoided eye contact, and the way that Ed looked guilty, made Alex think he'd done something to upset Norma again. Still, he wouldn't mention it. If Norma refused to tell him about it, clearly it wasn't distressing enough to worry him. Norma usually told him about things that really scared or worried her and this dinner party seemed more about giving a good impression than anything else. Perhaps to tell Ed once and for all that she wasn't interested in him.

"Norma said this was your family home, Alex?" Renee asked.

Alex's attention was diverted to the attractive and athletic brunette that had accompanied Ed. She wan't that much younger than Norma, but existed in wold all her own. Everything seemed exciting and interesting to her. As though she could be a tourist in any situation. Someone who was just there to observe the highlights and then leave.

"Um… yeah. My great- grandparents built this house with the help of their parents." Alex admitted awkwardly. "Well, their brothers to. I think it was more of a family project." he decided at last.

"I had the original blueprints to the house framed and hung over the mantle." Norma offered side stepping Ed and directing Renee to the nicely framed set of house plans that Chick had discovered in the attic last month.

"You can see they made a lot of additions over the years." Norma said excitedly.

"Nice of you to come over, Ed." Alex said casually when the women had their backs turned.

"Norma wanted us to see what the house looked liked. It's very nice." Ed said pleasantly.

"We sent the boys to stay with their grandparents for the night." Norma was telling Renee. "Let me show you the greenhouse Alex's dad built."

~ "So beautiful." Renee sighed when Norma had shown her the upstairs and even the crafting room when she was setting up her sewing area. "You're not even thirty yet and you have your own home, Norma."

"Well, it's Alex's home technically." Norma shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm sure Alex was the one who picked out the gold and wine wallpaper in the dinning room." Renee snorted.

"Do you like it?" Norma asked hopefully. "Alex didn't like it at all."

"I love it. If you didn't decorate this house he would have hung up some beer signs or something and called it a day." Renee giggled.

"You should see his study." Norma said eagerly. "We have all his baseball trophies there and his grandfather's old desk. It's so tacky and I won't go near it. He watches sports in there because I'm not a fan of having the TV on."

"I don't even own a TV." Renee said eagerly. "Too much to do. I've got tests to study for, books to read and places to go."

"Exactly." Norma smiled.

~ "I remember Simon driving this." Ed said when Alex took him out to see Lucy in the barn. Norma had made him clear out a special area for Lucy and the other cars, turning the once unused barn into a four car garage.

"He used to drive it in the Veterans Day parade." Ed added when Alex turned the ignition and Lucy roared to life.

"Yeah, he and my dad would decorate her with crape paper and pull one of the parade floats." Alex admitted. He remembered being in the back seat of Lucy while Simon drove her down main street and everyone would wave at them like they were celebrities.

"Why did you stop doing parades?" Ed asked. "She still runs well."

"Simon always drove her. He was the veteran of the family." Alex explained. "He was the war hero. He was captured by the Nazis."

"You're a veteran." Ed reminded him. "Weren't you captured by combatants in Iraq?"

Alex had been letting Lucy's engine run a little, but mentioning his service in the Marines made him pause. He quickly cut of the engine and looked at Ed.

"Your mother told me." Ed explained quickly. "Some kind of helicopter crash. It was how you broke your leg."

"I was recovered by my unit after less than a week." Alex said tersely. "It was just a hairline fracture to my leg. Not like I was in traction or anything."

"Sorry if I said anything wrong." Ed apologized. "I just meant that you're a veteran and a POW like Simon is."

"Not like Simon." Alex said. He didn't mean to sound so harsh. He knew Ed was trying to be nice to him. Trying to find common ground.

"But thank you." he said at last.

Ed nodded to the Mercedes that was settled between Lucy and his police SUV.

"Nice find." he observed. "You have an eye for classic cars."

"Police auction." Alex said happily. "I always like buying the cars and ill gotten goods of drug lords. Its' like I get to insult them twice."

"When the boys are ready to drive you'll know exactly where to buy their first car." Ed said politely.

"Dylan's already saying he wants a motorcycle." Alex sighed.

"I bet Norma loves that." Ed chuckled.

"Yeah, then she got mad at me when I wanted to show him crime scene photos of motorcycle accidents." Alex said in exasperation. "I was only trying to scare him away from the idea."

"You can't win sometimes." Ed agreed.

"Hey listen." Alex said suddenly serious. "Norma doesn't really know about the whole... um... being captured in Iraq thing. It's just never come up. I'd rather her not know."

"Sure." Ed said. "Of course."

~ Dinner was exactly what Norma wanted it to be. Adult conversations about intelligent topics that didn't involve kids crying or who hit who first. She didn't have to tell anyone to brush their teeth or take a bath or encourage anyone to eat their dinner.

They went through the bottle of wine Ed had brought and two more Norma had in reserve.

"I've been playing piano since I was five." Renee explained. "My parents were the kind of people who wanted me to **do** things. I never had down time."

She seemed slightly exhausted by this idea.

"So, I took dance lessons, music lessons, gymnastics, theater and even improv for a few years in high school. All of it looked great on my resume for NYU, but its' like life is nothing but a challenge sometimes."

"Isn't that good?" Norma asked. "I mean, to learn new things? Even if they're really hard?"

"Maybe." Renee shrugged. "I spent my whole childhood traveling to other countries and living at the American embassy where my parents worked. I didn't have a normal childhood at all."

She waved a hand at the well crafted dinning room and the sepia tinted picture of Alex's great grandparents on their wedding day. Another buried attic treasure Norma had insisted be framed and given a place of honor in the family home.

"I certainly didn't have a childhood like this." she laughed.

"Well, to be fair, neither did I." Alex added sarcastically and Norma threw him a dirty look.

"I'm not trying to say I resent it." Renee said quickly. "I know I'm lucky that my parents were able to give me these things. It's just I think sometimes I would have liked to have had a sleepover with some girlfriends and gone out on a date before I was twenty."

"No one has an ideal childhood." Ed offered. "We do the best we can for our kids each time."

Renee nodded and smiled softly.

"I envy you guys." she said to Alex and Norma. "You really have it all figured out."

"What?" Norma laughed. No one, certainly no one like Renee had ever been envious of her.

"You have each other, you have your family and a home that isn't just a house but a home. You're not that much older than me, Norma and your life is just so together. I'll be graduating soon and I have no idea what I'm doing with my life." she sighed.

"I think we've had too much wine." Alex said taking her glass away when Renee started to cry a little.

"Renee, maybe you should stay in the guest room tonight." Norma offered. "We have it ready for my sister when she comes and you can just sleep it off."

"I'm fine." Renee waved her hand away.  
"I'll take her home." Ed said quickly.

"Are you sure?" Norma asked when Renee stood up and somehow managed to stay vertical.

~ "This was really nice." Norma grinned at Alex that evening after Ed and Renee left and she'd called Tom's to check on the boys. It was late and after the dishes were done and the house put back into order, they were both exhausted.

"Yeah." Alex sighed and collapsed into bed. "Let's not do it again though."

"Oh, we're doing this again." Norma said stubbornly. "I want to host grown up dinner parties all the time. We need have Tom and Tess over and have Gemma look after the boys so the adults can talk."

"Why?" Alex groaned and rolled over. "I see Tom everyday."

"And I'm surrounded by children everyday." Norma argued shedding her dressing robe. "Remember how I spend my Friday night?"

"Washing bunny crap out of Norman's sheets." Alex said with a little grin.  
"That's right. He snuck a few of those rabbits into his room and his sheets were covered in rabbit crap. I need to be around grown ups, Alex. I need sophisticated conversation beyond what to make for dinner tomorrow and how Dylan's throwing arm is improving."

"Fine." Alex sighed. "Dinner was good."

"Of course dinner was good." she agreed readily. "You're only marrying me because I'm a good cook."

Norma caught him glancing down at her well toned legs and then up the nude colored nightdress she knew he liked.

"Well, I have others reasons for marrying you." Alex admitted sheepishly.

Norma grinned and crawled into bed next to him.

"Could you believe what Renee was saying about being jealous of me?" Norma asked. It was something that had been on her mind since Renee had said it over dinner. How Norma Bates, an ordinary girl with a troubled childhood. A grown woman who had made bad decisions about men and paid the price could be the envy of someone like Renee was astonishing.

"I think Renee's life isn't that great sometimes. Her parents expect a lot from her." Alex said sympathetically. "It must have been hard. Having to live up to all that."

"She's had more opportunities than I could ever dream of." Norma said sadly. She hadn't meant to express it out loud, but it was glaringly obvious that she wasn't like the rest of them. Alex, Ed and Renee had all been to college and were educated. They'd grown up in real homes and not in abandoned houses with no running water or electricity.

Sure Renee didn't know what she wanted to do but what a luxury it was to at least have options. What did Norma have? She decorated wedding cakes and was a cook for a catering company. She had to work two jobs to keep her kids in school shoes. She knew her future wouldn't change and she'd be doing that kind of drudgery for the rest of her life.

"It's no good comparing your life to someone else's." Alex said.

"I want to go back to school." Norma said suddenly. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew it was what needed to be done. Like a spell being cast, it was something that couldn't be undone.

"What?" Alex asked in surprise.

"I want to apply, and go to a university." Norma said more confidently. "Earn a four year degree."

Alex seemed to think this over.

"I thought…" he said slowly. "I mean, going back to school right now-"

"Its' perfect." Norma said excitedly. "I mean, Norman will start pre-K soon and I won't have to work two jobs anymore once we're married. I can drive to Portland if I have to."

"Norma, slow down." Alex said.

"I can start out part time." Norma went on. "Work and go to night school. Even do some correspondence like you did."

"Norma."

"Then, I could get a better job." she said. "I wouldn't have to work as hard."

"Norma." Alex said more sternly and she was pulled from her excited planning and back into the real world.  
Alex looked slightly heartbroken.

"You want to spend the next four years, if not longer, invested in school work, your job and rising the boys?" he asked. "I don't think you realize how much of a commitment that is."

Norma felt her sprits falter. Why wasn't Alex on bored with this?  
"I thought we were going to have a baby after we got married." Alex added.

 **I live in Texas near Houston but so far we are safe.**


	96. Chapter 96

96.

~ Norma woke up alone in bed the next morning. She'd gotten used to Alex taking Graceland out for an early morning run, even in the bitter cold. The two of them used to the chilled temperatures outside and she knew they would be home soon. Usually cold and wanting a hot breakfast.

What she wasn't used to was this large, old house without the sounds of people inside it. It felt slightly haunted with the stillness and she could finally understand why Alex had refused to live here for so long after his mother passed away and his father went to prison.

Without the diversion of Dylan and Norman, Alex and Graceland, she could almost feel eyes on her when she wandered downstairs in her blue dressing gown. There was defiantly a feeling that other lives had lived here and the walls, newly painted or not, were full of family secrets.

She spotted the note Alex had left for her on the countertop. He wouldn't have left a note if he would be back from his normal run.

 _Good Morning!_

 _Had to go to Portland for so business._

 _Be home before supper._

 _A._

Norma smiled softly to herself and felt the gloom around the old house start to fade away. Graceland was still asleep on the sofa and she wasn't alone in the house after all.

"Come on, girl." Norma sighed. "Let's get dressed and go pick up the boys."

~ Alex hadn't seen his father in over six years now. Not since the trial in which he'd witnessed the Old Bear getting sentenced to more than thirty years on various counts of fraud, second degree murder and the always popular, lying to federal agents.

The Old Bear hadn't bothered to write his only child or call. It just wasn't his way. Alex wasn't the type to call or write either. So the two stayed distant to each other for the past six years and they seemed to prefer it that way.

"Marcus Romero." Alex said showing the guards his deputy sheriff's badge.

They looked suspiciously at the names and Alex felt the slight ire of frustration. That same annoyance that people in town showed him when they gossiped about the Old Bear and thought he didn't know.

"I'm his son." he said. "I'd like a private meeting room. None of that glass window bullshit."

"Romero is a bit of a rough customer." the guard warned. "He's managed to gain an entire following here. Former bikers and gang members who do whatever he says."

"Sounds about right." Alex nodded.

"He doesn't want visitors." the other guard nodded. "Some magazine tried to interview him a couple of years ago and it didn't go so well. Broke the poor guys nose."

"Just tell him his son is here." Alex said stubbornly. "I'll take my chances."

~ Alex hoped he would never go to prison. The place was dark, depressing and dirty. It only made things worse when it started raining outside, adding to the already gloomy feel of the isolated visiting area.

Alex was sitting alone, Marcus Romero being so dangerous that they warranted the special room where other visitors couldn't get hurt.

' _This is such a bad idea._ ' Alex thought to himself. He noticed that even the tables and benches were bolted to the floors so none of the prisoners could throw them at people in fits of rage.

It was funny how drug dealers, murders, rapists and truly evil men didn't scare him, but seeing the Old Bear scared him. He felt like a helpless kid again when he saw the two guards escorting the large form of Marcus Romero down the hall and into the private visitors room.

Alex Romero almost didn't recognize his father. Prison hadn't agreed with him. His hair had been cut shot and had thinned considerably. He'd aged in the face and gained weight all around his body. He'd once been a very trim man. Almost as fit as Alex had always been, and a few more years in this place would make him very overweight.

"Alex." Marcus said with a surprisingly gentle tone.

Alex wanted to make a break for the door. This was a terrible idea. He wasn't prepared to to battle with the Old Bear. He should have brought Norma here. She would have seen right through his nice guy act and ripped him apart. Called him a few well chosen names on top of it to.

Maybe even call him out for being such a bad husband and father.

The thought of his tiger attacking the Old Bear gave Alex a renewed sense of strength and he sat up a little straiter.

"It's good to see you." Marcus said when he sat down across from his son.

Alex waited until the guards left them alone before speaking.

"Um… I… um… I wanted to tell you I'm getting married." he said slowly. His words sounding lost. It still felt like he was losing his courage in the face of such a fearsome man.

"Oh?" Marcus Romero said. "That's good news. What's the lady's name?"

"Norma." Alex said quickly. "She's a widow. She had two sons."

"So you'll be a stepfather." Marcus said smugly. "Well, you're in for it. It's not going to be easy caring for another man's child."

"I gave her mom's ring." Alex said. His words having the stinging effect he desired. Marcus winced and glared at his son.

"Who?"

"Simon." Alex answered. "He had it. She had stopped wearing it remember? After she found out about you and that waitress? Simon kept it in Grandma Ellie's jewelry box. He kept that in the lock box in his old desk where he knew you couldn't find it. Mom wanted me to give it to the girl I was going to marry."

"I was looking for that ring. To be buried with your mother." Marcus said coldly.

"Should have asked Simon where it was." Alex said. "You didn't have to attack me."

Marcus looked angry and Alex pressed on.

"No really. My mother had just died, you didn't have to beat me up looking for her ring." he said. "Especially after you drove her to it."

"I did no such thing." Marcus said arrogantly. "I loved her."

"You cheated on her. Abandoned her. You drove her to it." Alex whispered.

"That woman was in and out of mental hospitals for years. Don't you remember? Don't you remember coming home and finding how she'd cut open her writs in the bathroom? Cut on herself just so you'd find her? What kind of a mother does that?" Marcus said. "My mistake was trying to give that woman everything. Trying too hard to please her. She would never be happy."

"Not with you she wouldn't be." Alex said smartly.

Marcus looked ready to murder his only son and Alex wasn't afraid of his father anymore.

"We had a very good contractor come in and restore the farmhouse." he said casually. "Got rid of all that wood paneling on the walls, the shag carpeting. Norma has it decorated very nicely. We even started having dinner parties like normal people. I think mom would have loved it."

"Lucy still run?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah." Alex said. "I… um take her out on the farm road every weekend. Even had the boys steering on my lap a few times."

"I used to do that with you." Marcus chuckled and a rare smile flashed on his face.

Alex nodded.

"Norma is a good woman." he said. "She's an excellent mother. A good cook. She's strong to."

Marcus nodded. Both men understanding what Alex meant by Norma being strong. It was something Theresa Romero tragically lacked.

"I'd love to see pictures." Marcus admitted. "You know, of the house now. Of Lucy to. If you wanted to send me pictures of this new wife of yours, that would be okay."

Alex figured as much and fished in his pocket for the few pictures he knew Norma wouldn't miss. They were of the exterior of the house after the renovation, as well as the interior. The masterpiece that was the kitchen, and Lucy sitting lady like on the green lawn.

Finally there was a copy of the four of them under one of Ellie's trees that past fall. Looking for all the world like the happy family they were.

Marcus looked away from the family picture.

"You always did have a thing for blonds." he said roughly. "How's Simon?"

"He's fine." Alex said and wished his father would show more interest in the family picture. All Marcus seemed interested in was the house and Lucy.

"He's in the nursing home but he's still getting around on his own. He likes Norma." Alex mentioned.

"He would." Marcus said.

The Old Bear slapped the pictures on the table as if they insulted him.

"The house isn't a farm house at all anymore. She's turned it into one of those fancy Martha Stewart homes. Those kids look like brats to. Especially the youngest one. There's something funny about him, you can tell." Marcus said.

Alex felt a stabbing pain at his father's rejection of his family and watched the Old Bear stand up and leave.

"Good to see you again, Alex. Take care of Lucy and when that blond woman divorces you, don't let her get custody of the house." he warned.

~ Norman and Dylan were upstairs in their rooms and Norma was searching over the college prep books she'd checked out at the library that morning.

Now that the idea was in her head, she couldn't shake it back out. Portland would be the best option for her and as soon as she got a computer, not a small expense, she knew, she could take the correspondence course for a lot of classes.

Alex hadn't been wrong about it being no small job to get her degree. She'd barely finished high school and had resented all the homework and classroom work. Mainly because she'd been embarrassingly pregnant at the time and had to go to night school to complete her classes.

Then there was the matter of the tuition and fees. She's always heard college was expensive, but she had no idea. The house renovations had drained their savings, and then some, and if she was serious about going back to school, she wouldn't be able to work her normal job.

' _No, if I don't do this now, I never will._ ' she decided suddenly. Now was the perfect time. Norman was doing much better and so was Dylan. Both boys were thriving in kindergarten and daycare. She had a stable relationship with Alex and now was the perfect time to focus on herself. She had always taken care of everyone else and she'd always put herself last. It had gotten her nowhere.

She hadn't noticed that it had gotten dark outside and when headlights shone across the living room windows, she knew Alex was home.

~ "You're home late." Norma commented when Alex unlocked the front door and kicked off his shoes. Norma was insisting the house be a 'shoes off' house because of the constant threat of mud and dirt from outside and Alex and the boys had learned it was far easier to just comply with her on these issues than to try and rebel.

"Yeah." he said. "I was in Portland."

"What was in Portland?" she asked softly.

Alex took off his jacket and was thankful for the smells of beef stew already simmering on the stove. He was cold and hungry and glad he had a home cooked meal waiting for him and not prison food his father had tonight.

"My dad is doing time at a max prison there." Alex told her.

His eyes fell over the college course books and entrance exam prep work Norma would need to accomplish before she could start any four year program.

"You saw your dad?" Norma asked in confusion. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to see your dad?"

"It was sort of a spur of the moment kind of thing." Alex admitted. "I didn't plan it."

"I would have gone with you."

"No." Alex snapped. "No, I wouldn't have wanted you there."

"Why not?"

"Because my dad isn't a nice man, Norma." he said. "Because I thought if I told him how I was getting married, how I'd fixed up the house, we could… I don't know. It didn't work out."

"He wasn't happy for you?" Norma asked sympathetically.

Alex refused to answer.

"Where are the boys?" he asked instead.

"In their rooms." she nodded.

"What are you looking at?" he nodded at the books and papers she was already filling out.

"Planning." Norma sighed. "Everything I have to do. All my classes I have to take before I can even pick a major."

"Oh."

"The good news is that I can do most of them at the new Junior College nearby. Save us some money. Then I'll have to drive to Portland a few days a week." she admitted.

"Portland isn't close." Alex said.  
"I know." Norma nodded.

"It's that important to you."

"You have a degree." she said by way of an answer.

"I had to get a degree to advance in my career. I didn't have two children-"

"Exactly." Norma interrupted. "I should do this now before we even think about having another baby."

"Another baby." Alex said dryly. "We haven't even had the one yet."

"Well, I've had two of them and if I have another baby right now… Alex, I'll never go back to school." Norma pointed out.

"I understand that." Alex sighed and sat down next to her. "I really do it's just that this is taking on a lot. It's a big commitment."

"It's not as big a commitment as having a baby." Norma snorted. "And this is just school for a few years. A baby is forever, Alex."

"I know." he said quickly.

Norma looked sad.

"What did your dad say?" she asked.

"Nothing much." Alex told her.  
"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

Alex flipped over the course catalog and saw Norma had written down classes that were about family studies and childhood development.

"Were you thinking about becoming a social worker?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know." Norma shrugged. "They just sounded interesting. Maybe. I would like to help people."

"Yeah." Alex agreed. He wasn't sure about Norma responding to reports of child abuse. Knowing her she'd try and adopt the abused child, clean the filthy drug addicts house and force them to go to rehab. In his experience, social workers like Sybil had to be detached and slightly indifferent. Norma felt things too much. She was a lot like Norman in that way. She was sensitive to the hurt of others and wanted to give too much of herself to save them.

"If earning a four year degree is important to you…" Alex said slowly. "Then that's what I want for you."

Norma smiled softly at him.

"It is." she nodded. "I mean, I know it's going to be hard, but I really need to do this."

"And I know we have plenty of time to have a baby of our own. Alex reassured himself.

Norma looked away from him and he felt a sudden alarm go off in his head. She hadn't reassured him that she wanted to have a baby at all.  
"Norma?" he asked when she stood up and walked away from him.

"Boys?" she called upstairs. "Come down. It's suppertime!"

"Norma!" he said and pulled her around to face him.

Her face looked saddened and defeated and her body felt especially frail in his arms.

"Norma, we have to talk about this." Alex said when Dylan and Norman came stopping down the stairs in their bare feet.

 **The hurricane is getting pretty bad here in Texas and we have several tornado warnings in my area. Houston is under water and my home town is under emergency evacuation.**

 **If you are on Instagram, you can follow me at Angelofthemorning1978 for updates as well as teasers for the next chapter to TSCB.**


	97. Chapter 97

97.

~ "I saw my dad yesterday." Alex said without preamble.

Simon looked only mildly surprised and re-shuffled the cards for a new hand.

"I take it things didn't go too well. Or else you wouldn't be wearing that sour look on your face." the old man said.

Alex nodded.

"I told him I was getting married. Told him that Norma and I fixed up the house and that you were doing okay." he explained to his grandfather.

"What did he say?"

"He was happy Lucy was running." Alex admitted. "That was about it."

"Well, what did you expect?"

"I don't know what I was expecting." Alex sighed. "I think I was hoping we could bond. Finally let the past just… I don't know. I think because I was feeling so happy, getting married to Norma, adopting the boys, living in the farm house again."

He looked at his grandfather.

"I think because everything was going so well for me in my career and persona life, maybe I just expected my relationship with my dad to be magically healed to." he admitted.

"Alex, your dad will never be the father you want him to be." Simon told him. "He's always had a lot of demons and I'm sure I'm to blame for some of them."

Alex shook his head.

"Dad was a grown man." he said. "You can't force a grown man to be better if he doesn't want to be."

"Your mother and I thought he would come around eventually." Simon admitted sadly. "That one day he would realize how much he had to lose. It never happened."

Alex was tired of talking about his father. It had been a mistake going to see the miserable Old Bear.

"Norma wants to know when you're going to come to see the house." he said.

"Too cold to go outside." Simon told him. "We can go in the springtime. Besides, you showed me the pictures. Looks beautiful. You picked a good woman to marry, Little Bear. She has good taste. Ellie would have approved."

"You know, you don't have to stay here, Granddad." Alex told him. "Norma and I were talking and, now that the house is done, we think you should come and stay with us. We have the office. We can fix it up for you."

"You and Norma need your own space." Simon told him. "You need your own space to start your own family. You don't need to take care of an old man like me."

"Our own family." Alex sighed. "Who knows when that will happen."

"Doesn't have to happen right away. Sometimes its' best to wait a while. Enjoy each other's company."

"I don't think Norma wants to have anymore children. Ever." Alex admitted.

"I see." Simon said. "Would that be a deal breaker? Would you not want to marry her if that were the case?"

"No. I want to marry her. Even if we never have children together." Alex said stubbornly. "She wants to go back to school because she knows that will make her happy, and I want her to be happy. I want children together but only if she does."

"It's never easy being a mother, Alex." Simon told him. "Its' easy for a man to say he wants to be a father but motherhood is much more of a commitment. A good mother has to put her life on hold for her children. A father can just keep going with what he wants."

Alex didn't like that logic but couldn't dispute it.

"I know." he admitted sadly.

~ "You can apply for a lot of scholarships that will cover the costs of everything." Renee said quickly typing out Norma's information on the home computer in her grandfather's home office.

Norma was impressed at the opulent home and family pictures that depicted an interesting and well traveled life. Renee had recently been to India an attended a wedding there. The whole family were fans of traveling and learning about the culture apparently.

"I'll type you out a quick essay." Renee said speed typing a few lines about Norma and her two sons and how she'd overcome the hardships of being a single mother working two jobs.

"Wow." Norma said feeling impressed by her own life story.

"You just have to play up the sympathy angle." Renee told her. "Ed told me how Dylan's father abandoned him and how your second husband was a real piece of shit."

Norma stifled a laugh.

"He was." she admitted.

"Kinda sexy that Alex shot him. No wonder you started dating him." Renee said typing out some sob story about the importance of education.

"Didn't happen exactly like that." Norma admitted. "Alex… he just looked after us. It just felt normal that we…"

"I get it." Renee said. "Fate."

"Exactly." Norma nodded.

"How does Alex feel about you wanting to go back to school?"

"He says he wants me to but at the same time he wants me to have a baby right after we get married." Norma sighed.

"Well, it will be easier to get financial aide if you stay single." Renee told her. "I don't have to tell you how hard it will be to finish school while being pregnant and handling a newborn."

"I know." Norma said.

"Okay, send." Renee said and the computer made a satisfying swooshing sound.

"That's it?" Norma asked. "I applied?"

"Yup. You'll hear back from them in a week or so. You can start taking part time class at the Junior College and do a fair amount of online coursework. Isn't the computer age great?" Renee asked.

"Yeah, I just have to get one." Norma sighed. "Figure out how to use it."

"Maybe that's the fist class you should sign up for. Computers are the future." Renee told her.

Norma nodded.

"You think it's a good idea? Going back to school right now?" she asked.

"I think it's a fantastic idea." Renee said enthusiastically. "I wish I could be here to help you. I'll be going back to New York next week."

"I'm sorry." Norma sighed.

"Me to. I like this little town. Everyone's so nice. Especially Ed." Renee said and rolled her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Norma asked.

Renee looked embarrassed.

"Look, promise not to say anything, but after dinner the other night, Ed didn't take me home." she confessed.

"What?" Norma cried in shock.

"Only because I didn't ask him to." Renee insisted. "I've had this massive crush on him since I met him and I guess I was drunk enough to make a move. He took me back to his place, which I found out was this huge old mansion that belonged to his dead aunt and we…"

Renee bit her lip and Norma put a hand over her mouth to cover a laugh.

"It was pretty awesome." Renee admitted. "I mean you'd think someone like him would be a little shy and reserved bedroom wise but he just took charge."

"Wow!" Norma laughed.

"It was a little embarrassing waking up next to him the next morning. I think he was wanting me to stay for breakfast or something. He was so apologetic, Norma. It was adorable. He must have felt like he took advantage of me." she giggled.

"Knowing Ed I'm surprised he didn't propose." Norma rolled her eyes.

"Kinda surprised he didn't either." Renee agreed. "He's like a giant puppy! He's just like ' _please love me_ '. So cute!"

Both women laughed.

"Alex is nothing like that." Norma admitted.

"Oh, yes. Mister, tall, dark and sexy." Renee grinned.

"You have no idea." Norma sighed wistfully. "I think if I didn't have the boys in the house, we would just lie around naked all day."

Renee looked impressed.

"You know the sexiest thing Alex ever did?" Norma asked and Renee shook her head.

"After Sam died and my arm was broken, I couldn't even carry my own kid. Alex was helping me get into the house. He… he picked Norman up and my youngest son, who doesn't trust anyone, just went to sleep in his arms. Just rested his head right on Alex's shoulder like Alex was his father. I remember my legs just went weak and I just wanted him. I just **wanted** him so much right then." she confessed.

"It was meant to be." Renee smiled.

"Maybe." Norma sighed. "Maybe Alex was always meant to be a dad."

~ It had started snowing again before Alex managed to come home. The farm house, looking totally transformed from the place he'd grown up in, shown like a bright gem in the approaching dusk. There was no longer any trace of the sadness he'd once known as a child. Norma, his fearless tiger, had chased all those ghosts away.

The boys had been playing outside in the snow again. Their little tracks had created ruts all around the front of the house and Norma would have already called them inside and given them hot baths to chase the cold away. They would be dressed in footie pajamas and something warm would be on the stove for dinner.

He could hear her playing his mother's piano when he walked into the front door. Norman was by her side as the two of them sang 'Mr. Sandman'.

Dylan was working on something for scouts, and the house felt warm and cozy.

"Mister, Sand-Man… Bring me a dream… make him the cutest… that I've ever seen." Norma sang and played. She was encouraging her youngest to sing with her but Norman was content to some at his mother's side and enjoy her singing.

She turned and spotted Alex in the living room.

"You're home early." she smiled warmly at him.

"Yeah, slow day at the office." Alex grinned back at her. Graceland jumped gratefully on her assigned chair, close to the fire, and completed the picture of a perfect homecoming.

"Dinner's ready." Norma said abandoning the piano and coming to meet him. "Are you hungry?"

"Starved." Alex admitted just as the phone rang.

"Boys, go wash up." Norma said and Alex noticed they were indeed in warm pajamas. Norma went into the kitchen to answer the ringing phone. The same kitchen phone that had been in this house since he was a baby. Norma liked it's old fashioned look and that it hung on the wall with a long cord. Alex would forever hate that phone after today.

He'd been taking off his coat and pulling off his shoes when he realized the conversation was serious.

"When?" Norma asked the person on the other end.

"Yes. Thank you. I'll tell him. Do we know where they're taking him?" she asked.

Alex looked up at her and she looked away from him.

"Norma?" he asked.

"Thank you." she said again over the phone and hung up. She finally turned back to him just as the boys came back downstairs.

"Boys, go watch TV in the office." she said brightly to Dylan and Norman.

"We're not allowed." Dylan argued suspiciously.

"Today you are." Norma insisted. "I'll bring dinner to you. Go and watch a movie and close the door."

Dylan and Norman exchanged looks as Norma pushed them out of the kitchen and down the hall to Alex's office. The only place in the entire house with a TV.

"Norma, what happened?" Alex asked when she came back.

"Alex, I'm so sorry." she said. Tears welling up in her eyes.

"What is it?" he demanded. He couldn't take the suspense anymore.

"That was the director of the nursing home." she explained. "Simon just passed away."


	98. Chapter 98

98.

~ It had been hard for Alex to sleep that night.

He'd known his entire life that his grandfather was old and would eventually die, but sometimes it was hard to believe.

Simon Romero, like all the Romero men, was too tough to die. He'd not only survived being a Nazi POW, but he'd survived a bout of tuberculosis as a young child. His own parents had survived the Spanish Flu that ravaged the country and illness always failed to claim any of their robust offspring.

Alex had only learned from family lore that the Romero men had survived bear attacks, near drownings and even falling off a cliff. All which they were slightly embarrassed about, but had fully recovered from as if the incidents had been no more dramatic than a skinned knee.

It would seem he came from a lineage that granted him good survival rates, if poor judgement about his invisibility.

Norma, as always, had been his rock. She'd made the calls to the funeral home. The only one in town and a family run business that was run by a strange man and his grown son. At first, they only wanted to talk to him, but Norma, being Norma, resumed to have any of that. She would handle all the details and explained that her fiancé, Alex Romero was unavailable to plan the funeral.

"Simon Romero was a simple man." she explained over the phone the next morning. That kitchen phone he now hated. Alex was still trying to overcome the feeling of being punched in the chest. "We don't need anything too elaborate. Just a graveside service will be more than enough."

She let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Yes, I understand the ground is frozen, but we'll still need a graveside service." She looked at Alex who didn't want the breakfast she had made him. He wondered where the boys were and realized Norma must have had Gemma Harper or Tess pick them up early for school so they wouldn't be underfoot.

"We want it done as soon as possible." Norma told the funeral director in a stern voice.

"Yes we already have a plot for him. He and his wife bought it decades ago. I'm sure I can find the paperwork, and if I can't I can go to city hall." Norma snapped.

She covered the mouth piece with her hand when she saw Alex was wearing his uniform.

"I hope you're not planning on going into work today." she scolded.

Alex looked down at his work clothes.

"I was planning on it." he said sadly.

"Hang on." she said curtly into the phone. "Alex, you were tossing and turning all night."

"And do what?" he asked.

"Yes, we will be there this afternoon." Norma said. "No, we don't need any of that."

She looked annoyed and Alex felt a little sorry for the funeral director.

"His grandson and I will bring the suit he's going to be buried in. I've got it all picked out. No, I will make the last identification. It's not going to be an open casket, I already told you, graveside only." she said smartly.

She hung up the phone and finished checking things off her list.

"Impressive." Alex nodded.

"Can you believe that? All these add ons they want us to make? They want us to have a full indoor ceremony and open casket. They tried to convince me they couldn't find the deed to his plot and we had to buy it all over again." she said in irritation.

Her next words were softer.

"I called Ed last night. He wanted to hold a service for Simon in the church but I thought it would be better to just have a simple graveside service. It's warm enough we can have everything outdoors. The funeral director himself said they have a machine that will cut the frozen ground so we can bury him. All we have to do is pick out his casket." she sighed.

"Good." Alex nodded. He didn't think he could make it through a long and fancy funeral. Simon would have hated the very idea of such a thing anyway. He had to go through several days of viewings and wakes when his mother died and all before the actual funeral. It was exhausting he didn't have in in him to do it again.

"Is it alright?" Norma asked. "That Ed gives the service?"

Alex nodded.

"You do need to come with me today. I called Tom and Tess picked up the boys so he knows you won't be into work." she told him briskly. "We need to pick out a casket and collect his things from the nursing home."

"I don't want to." Alex said petulantly and shook his head.

"It won't take long." Norma assured him.

"I don't want to pick out a casket." Alex argued stubbornly. The last thing he wanted to do was write out a check to that morbid funeral home owner and his creepy son for an over priced casket and embalming service.

He tossed his fork down and looked at the picture perfect breakfast Norma had prepared for him that he hadn't touched.

"Okay." she said softly. "Okay, I know you don't want to. But we have to."

He didn't want to listen to this.  
"We have to pick out a nice casket for your grandfather, we have to box up his things at the nursing home and then we can come back home." she said soothingly.

Alex shook his head.

"We owe it to Simon." she told him.

~ Alex hated the gothic style funeral home and its' darkness that crept from every corner. It was the kind of place only a psychopath would enjoy being in.

Norma seemed to share his distaste for the dark decor, but she brushed off the creepy funeral director with her usual efficacy and made everyone slightly afraid of her.

"I think Simon would like the redwood." Norma said nodding to the highly polished wooded casket that had been stained to imitate the natural wood of the area. It was in the less expensive side of the caskets and not prominently displayed.

"We can't guarantee that this casket will last more than a century." the creepy funeral director said and tried to direct her to the more appealing metal caskets that would house Simon's earthy remains for the next few eons.

"I doubt archeologists are going to dig up Simon Romero for study." Norma said sharply. She slapped the freshly dry cleaned suit the deceased would be buried in into the director's arms. "He's lived a long life, he's lived a good life. Let's get him buried next to his wife where he belongs."

~ Just like in the funeral home, Norma barged into Simon's rented apartment at the nursing home with her usual fearsome energy. Alex could still feel Simon's presence all around him in the recliner the old man sat in and died in while napping. In the scrapbooks he had kept for the past sixty odd years on the bookshelf and in the playing cards that were still on the table where he and his only grandson had played just hours before he died.

Norma brought several boxes with her and had Alex work on the kitchen with the instruction to do the fridge contents last.

It was faster and easier if she sorted Simon's personal possessions since she had no real attachments to them. She neatly folded his clean clothes in a few boxes and labeled them. Boxed up the scrapbooks and framed family pictures with extreme care. She neatly wrapped up anything that looked breakable and by the time Alex was finished with the kitchen, she had put Simon Romero's entire life into five, sturdy boxes.

"You can go through them when we get home." she told him reassuringly.

~ Once they were home, Alex and Norma put the boxes, and Simon's recliner, in the office.

"Did you tell the boys yet?" he asked.

"No, not yet." Norma said putting a box cutter on his desk for when he was ready to go through his grandfather's things.

"The funeral is in a few days. We should tell them together." she said.

"Yeah."

"You need to eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

"You still need to eat something." she said.

He looked at Norma and saw the way the sunlight coming in from the windows made her practically glow.

"Thank you." he said. "For everything."

"You're welcome."

"I know what I want to do." he said.

"What?"

"I want to drive Lucy to the graveside for the funeral." he said.

"I think her tags are out of date." Norma teased. "Know anyone in the Sheriff's department who help you out?"

Alex smiled. His first since he learned about Simon.

"I think so." he said. "I think Simon would like it if Lucy was there to see him off."

"Okay." she said. "But the boys are not ridding with you."

"I'll go slow." Alex insisted.

"Alex, Lucy has no seatbelts!" she grinned. "It's one thing to drive her ten miles an hour down a country road but through town where anyone could hit you."

"If someone hits that car they wouldn't walk away and Lucy wouldn't have a scratch." Alex corrected her. "You probably won't like the idea of my taking her out for the Veterans Day parade either."

"Just as long as the boys aren't in the car." Norma shook her head and he knew Norma would let Dylan drive Lucy to the moon if he wanted it.

"Boys need to be in the car for a parade, Norma." he insisted. It was as if she'd spoken blasphemy.

"Fine." she groaned. "You never mentioned anything about a Veteran's Day parade before."

"Simon was a POW during the war." Alex said.

Norma nodded.

"He told me about it. We need to write his obituary." she said gently.

"He was captured by Nazis." Alex added. "He always had Lucy pull a float in the parade. I'd like to start doing it again.

He wasn't sure why he suddenly wanted to tell Norma about his own experience but she was waiting for him to go on.

"When I was in the Marines…" he said slowly. "I um… I was in Iraq and… we were shot down. I was captured. I broke my leg when the chopper crashed. I was the only survivor. I was held for… just a few days before my release was negotiated. I was treated at a hospital and… I was fine."

He wasn't surprised to see the shocked look on her face.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" she asked.

"It was embarrassing." he sighed. "I felt like I let my unit down. I let my men down. I was only 19, but it was terrifying and I thought I was going to be killed."

Norma nodded.

"When I came home, my mother tried to talk to me about it, but by then I… was too much of a hard ass to let her in." he admitted.

He nodded to the boxes that were Simon's life.

"Simon understood." he said. "We would go out into the garage and work on Lucy. He would ramble on about being a POW and how his guards would treat him. How… how it felt like he had been given a new life when the Americans marched into Germany and he was free."

He shrugged as if it didn't matter.

"Simon just got it. More than anyone else." he admitted. "He always understood me."

"Simon is with his Ellie now." Norma said. "You know how much he loved her."

Alex nodded and glanced down at her ring.

"Yeah, he kept harping on me to marry you." he laughed. "Glad I listened to him."

~ Dylan seemed to understand that he wouldn't see Simon anymore, but death was something a little too complex for Norman to grasp.

"My granddad was very old, boys." Alex explained gently as Dylan and Norman sat on either side of their mother. Their little faces going from confused to worried to, in Norman's case, confused again.

"What did he die of?" Dylan asked full of childhood curiosity.

"He was just old." Norma said quickly. "He died in his sleep."

"Where is he?" Norman asked.

"He's in heaven with Alex's grandmother Ellie." Norma explained. "The pretty lady in those pictures who planted all those trees you like to climb."

"Where's heaven?" Norman asked.

"You remember learning about heaven in Sunday school?" Norma smiled.

"We can see them?" Norman asked.

"Not for a very long time. Not till we're all really old like Simon was." his mother assured him.

Norman seemed to think this over, decided the existence of another plane of being didn't make sense and so he rejected the whole notion.

"But **where** is he?" the little boy asked again.

"I may have to call Ed Warren in on this one." Norma sighed.

"Right." Alex nodded.

~ Alex didn't want to see his grandfather laid out in the casket. He only caught a fleeting glimpse of the old man and he could barely recognize him. He didn't look like he was sleeping, he looked empty of life.

Norma went in alone to ensure that Simon was dressed appropriately enough for burial while Alex stayed in the other room with Norman and Dylan.

Norma had done almost everything. She'd arranged the service and reception to follow. She even wrote Simon's obituary that spoke more about his love of his wife and family and downplayed his military service.

It was exactly the kind of obituary Simon would have wanted.

~ "No one living can know what heaven is like, Norman." Ed said in a soothing tone that instantly made Norma relax.

"Simon's in the box." Norman pointed at the casket that was being loaded for the short drive out to the graveyard.

"That's just his body." Ed told him. "It's the house that his spirt lived in."

Norman, now that things were put into real context, looked impressed.

"When he no longer needed to live in his body, his spirt went to heaven. That's where all the people who went before him are waiting for him. This is a happy day, Norman. He's with all the people he's ever loved. He's very lucky." Ed said and glanced at Norma who smiled.

"How many people?" Norman wanted to know.

"Lots." Norma sighed. "His parents, his brothers and sisters, his wife Ellie."

"His pets to?" Norman asked.

Norma looked at Ed who nodded.

"Sure." she said. "His pets are in heaven with him."

"Will the bunnies… will they be in heaven? When I die?" Norman asked curiously.

"Norman, you won't die for a very long time." Ed laughed. "You will be an old man just like Simon when you die."

"What about when mother dies?" Norman asked and looked at his mother with concern.

"Son, women like your mother live a lot longer than men." Ed said with a certain sense of expertise. Norma nodded when her son glanced up at her for confirmation. "Your mother will probably out live us all."

"That's my plan, honey." she told her youngest. "I'll be a very, **very** old lady still telling you what to do."

"Okay." Norman nodded finally satisfied.

~ Alex inspected Lucy for any spots or imperfections for the drive out to the graveside.

"Thanks for coming, Tom." he said to Wilson. "It means a lot."

"Of course." the Sheriff said. "I'm leading the procession. Have to make sure no one hits this beauty."

He nodded to Lucy who gleamed proudly in the winter sunlight.

"Why have you never taken her out before?" he asked.

"Didn't seem right." Alex shrugged. "She was always Simon's car. I was just her caretaker."

"Well, he left you a hell of a nice car. Gonna let the boys drive it when they turn sixteen?" Wilson asked.

"Hell no." Alex huffed and both men smiled.

~ Lucy pulled gracefully through town and made people stop and stare at her as if she were royalty. Never mind that she was in a funeral procession, complete with the Sheriff leading the way. Lucy was, and always would be the star. Something Simon would have appreciated.

Ed's service to Simon Romero was very simple and on point. His dedication to family, country and community were to be admired. Alex had almost missed Sybil waiting on the outskirts of the crowd of people who came by to shake his hand and express their sympathy.

For reasons that Alex would never know, Sybil and Simon had never gotten along. They had grown up together as children, but had never been friends. Her hatred of Simon's only son had caused too great a rift between them to ever be repaired.

Alex waved at the old dragon and Sybil, smoking her cigarette waved back before climbing into her car and leaving without a word.

~ Norma, with Renee and Ed's help, had organized a very nice wake for Simon. Most of the people who came were older people Alex didn't recognize but all of whom seemed to know him and wanted to share stories about his grandfather.

The wake was held at the Church's community center and Norma had even put together a tasteful guestbook for people to sign next to Simon's old pictures. A few of them were of Alex's grandfather as a child, as a handsome teenager, a newlywed to his precious Ellie, a war hero, and standing next to his second greatest love, Lucy.

Norma had even snuck a few pictures of Simon holding his infant son and Alex as a toddler.

~ Then, thankfully, it was over.

"I think that's everything." Norma was saying once they had packed the last the dinner goods up in Lucy's ample trunk and were driving back to the farm. The boys were asleep in the backseat and he drove the old car slowly so as not to wake them up.

Alex had felt very content with how the funeral had gone. It was exactly what he would have wanted for his own final goodbye and he told Norma so.

"I just want everything done the same way." he admitted turning into the dark farm. "I want to go in my sleep, have Dylan drive Lucy to the service and be buried next to you."

"Wait, what if I'm still alive?" Norma teased.

"You know what I mean." Alex said. "I want us to be buried next to each other when the time comes."

"What if I re-marry?" she asked innocently.

"What, to someone rich and handsome?" he asked.

"Look, he can either be rich **or** handsome, I doubt he can be both. I'm already marrying you for your looks." she said with certainty.

"True." he nodded. "My next wife is gonna by ugly as sin and rich as hell."

"We can marry those losers, divorce them, take their money and then marry each other!" Norma said excitedly.

"The perfect crime." Alex agreed.

Norma smiled. That brilliant smile that illuminated her entire face.

"I want to be buried next to you to." she admitted.


	99. Chapter 99

99.

~ Norma liked Doctor Edwards right away. His office was more like the comfortable living room of a friend, rather than a clinical environment. He had jazz posters on the walls complete with nicely framed photographs of himself with musicians.

The furniture wasn't new, but it was maintained well and added to a cozy and clean place to be.

"Sure you don't want any coffee, deputy?" Doctor Edwards asked Alex as he sat the tea tray down between himself and Norma.

"No, and you can call me Alex. Its' fine." Alex said eyeing the office and tray of fruit and cookies Doctor Edwards sat in front of them with suspicion.

"An old trick." Doctor Edwards said with a dry chuckle while Norma added cream to her coffee and helped herself to a cookie. If this was therapy, she liked it already. "People tend to open up more when there's food involved. It's why family dinners are so important."

"Oh." Alex said without emotion and Norma recognized the walls were going up already. They weren't able to book the doctor he'd seen before and she suspected Doctor Edwards was a little more relaxed than Alex would have liked.

"On your intake, you said the two of you were getting married soon? Also that there was a death of a close family member?" Edwards asked writing down some notes.  
"Yes, my grandfather." Alex said quickly. "But we're fine with it. We're really here because Norma and the boys were in a car crash a month ago and she's had some anxiety since then."

"Yes I understand it was very upsetting." Edwards said when Norma threw Alex a hard look. She didn't want to be the sole subject of their meeting today.

"Well, we have other things to work on before we get married." she corrected stubbornly and Alex gave her a perplexed look.

"Lets address the anxiety from the car accident. The doctor who treated you was kind enough to fax over your records and I saw that the accident was bad enough to require emergency surgery and the boys almost went into foster care." Edwards said in a smooth and comforting voice Norma guessed he'd learned in med school. Or maybe it was just how he naturally spoke. Whatever the case, it was relaxing to hear him speak.

"Yes." she admitted.

"That must have been terrifying." Edwards said. "I think a lot of people wouldn't have been able to function after such an ordeal, but you've managed to keep everything together."

Norma looked at him as if he'd just spoken another language.

"What about the panic attacks?" she asked.

"You were in a serious accident. You could have died. Your children could have died. We're hardwired, as humans, to panic and feel danger when such a thing happens, Norma." he explained. "A panic attack can feel awful but they are only cause for concern when the person can't lead a healthy life."

"I have to take medication to calm down." she admitted sadly.

"So do a lot of people." he told her honestly. "It's a small dose of the anti anxiety drug and if it's helping you to cope, then I see no reason to worry. It's when the attacks start to prevent you from living the life you want live that it becomes a problem. Are we there yet?"

Norma shook her head and Edwards nodded.

"You'll find that, as time goes on, you'll need the medication less and less." he told her. "I don't want you to feel bad for needing it now. You're a mother of two young children and you do what's needed to take care of them."

Norma felt slightly elated that Doctor Edwards didn't think there was anything to worry about.

"So tell me about your grandfather." Edwards said looking to Alex.  
"What?" Alex asked nervously.

"You mentioned he died very recently. Were the two of you close?" Edwards asked.

"Sure. I mean, he was my grandfather." Alex said.

"Any other family nearby?" Edwards asked. "Aside from your fiancé and the children."

Alex looked annoyed and rolled his eyes.

"No. Um… Simon was my only living relative." he admitted.

"Your father is still in prison. Has he been informed his father passed away?" Edwards asked.

"I sent him a copy of the obituary." Norma said discreetly. "Along with a short letter explaining how he died and how sorry we are."

"Don't expect to hear back from him." Alex told her curtly.

"So, you lost a very real link to your family recently." Edwards said gently. "How has that been?"

"It's been fine." Alex told him. "We had a nice funeral for him and… that was all. My grandfather was in his nineties after all. We couldn't expect him to live forever."

"What did he think of you getting married?" Edwards asked looking at Norma who nervously drank her coffee. She recognized the cold and angry exterior that Alex had on just now. It was the same one he used when he didn't want to feel things.

"He liked Norma. He wanted me to get married." Alex admitted. "Get married… have a family… maybe. Lately, I guess a family is going to happen."

"Alex!" Norma gasped.  
"Am I missing something?" Doctor Edwards asked and looked between them.

Norma rolled her eyes and refused to look at Alex.

"I want to go back to school." she admitted. "I want to earn a four year degree. Alex says he's fine with that but he wants to have a baby right away and…"

She shook her head.

"Not right away." Alex corrected her. "But, I want you to want children someday soon."

"Alex, I have children." she reminded him. "What I don't have is a means to support them."

"You have me." he reminded her.

"Let's stop for a moment." Edwards said before the couple started to argue. Alex and Norma looked at him and she shifted a little ways away from the man she planned to marry. The feeling that he'd betrayed her loomed between them.  
"Why is this so important?" Edwards asked. "Having children of your own?"

"It's not." Alex argued.

"Yes, it is." Norma argued.

"Its' normal for people to feel a loss more keenly when a parental figure dies. They start to feel their own mortality. It says in your chart that your mother passed away a few years ago. Maybe you feel that you don't have family left. That you need to pass down some sort of legacy." Edwards offered.  
"I don't feel that way." Alex said. "If I did, I have the two boys."

Norma let out a sigh.  
"He does treat them like his own." she admitted. "Better than their real fathers did."

"They are still step-children. Even if you adopt them, they won't be blood." Edwards pointed out.

Alex shook his head.

"Look, I thought, for a long time now, that Norma and I were on the same page with what we wanted in life. We were going to fix up our home, move in, get married and start our own family." he admitted. "Now, I'm not sure what happened but its' like the plan has changed and I have no say in it."

"Men seldom have a say in when a child will be born." Edwards told him. "It's been that way since the beginning. It's always up to the mother who has to do the most for the child. Mother's rarely get an opportunity to look after themselves. Especially when a young child is involved. Maybe Norma is expressing that going back to school is her way of taking care of herself just now."

"I support her going back to school." Alex insisted. "I want her to be happy, but I also want her to agree that when it's done, we're going to concentrate on our family."

"What if the two of you never have children together?" Edwards asked before Norma could argue.

Alex looked slightly horrified but stayed calm.  
"If Norma decided she didn't want another baby or couldn't have another baby, would that be the end of your relationship?" Edwards asked.

"No, of course not." Alex said quickly. "I'd still love her and… we would be happy no matter what."

"Alright." Edwards said and looked at Norma. "If you weren't able to finish this goal you've set for yourself. If you had a baby and had to quit school, how would you feel?"

Norma didn't want to say it.

"I would be… angry." she admitted. "I mean, I would still love the child, but I think I might be resentful."

Edwards nodded.

"So the solution is simple." he said. "We **want** certain things, but we **need** other things more. Norma needs to do this now to be a happier person. Once that is done, she can be a better wife to you and a bette mother to the children already involved."

Alex looked annoyed and angry again.

"Norma, you didn't fill out much on your own family history." Edwards said looking over her chart. "Your parents, you didn't even write their names."

"Oh." Norma said feeling slightly panicked. She looked to Alex who sat up a little straiter.

"They passed away." she said foolishly. "In a house fire."

"Yes." Alex added.

Doctor Edwards looked between the two of them and Norma could tell he saw the lie there.  
"What did your father do for a living?" he asked.  
"Um… a carpenter." she said. "He built houses."

"Your mother?"

"She… she was a baker. Yeah." Norma smiled. "She always came home smelling like cookies."

"What kind of home life was it?" Edwards asked.

"Very nice." Norma said quickly and fidgeted a little. "We were very… um… normal. Perfectly normal."

"Why did you use the word normal?" Edwards asked and looked at her curiously.

Norma shrugged and wished that hour was up already.

"Um… it's been so long now." she smiled. "I haven't really thought about them that much."

"Do you think they would approve of Alex?" Edwards asked.

Norma snorted a laugh.

"No." she smiled and realized how awful that sounded. She looked between Doctor Edwards and Alex who seemed amused by her folly.

"I mean, my dad… he didn't really like the idea of me… dating anyone." she explained quickly.

Edwards nodded to Alex.

"What about you, Alex? Do you think your parents would have liked Norma?" he asked.

"My mother would have." Alex said with a knowing smile. "My dad would have been terrified of her."

~ "That was weird." Norma said uncomfortably on the drive home. "Why was he asking so much about my parents?"

"Its' how therapy works." Alex explained. "They want to know all about your dramatic childhood, Norma and it won't help you to lie about it."

"I'm not telling him the truth." Norma snapped.  
"I'm not saying you have to tell him about Caleb." Alex sighed and drove easily through the oncoming snowstorm that she found too frightening to drive in. It was one of the things she liked best about him. That she always felt safe with him driving in any situation. She always felt herself relaxing at the confident way Alex drove in heavy rain and snow. That nothing bad could happen with him behind the wheel.

"It's just, the fact your parents were abusive and neglectful are things he needs to know." Alex added.

"If I tell him all that he's going to want to know more." Norma argued hotly. "And why would your dad be afraid of me?"

Alex smiled.

"He just would have been." he said slyly. "He wasn't used to people standing up to him and all bullies are cowards."

"Are you really okay with me going back to school, or were you just saying that?" she asked.

"I want you to be happy. I didn't think not having a degree was something that bothered you so much."

"It does." she sighed. "It's something I want to do."

"If we have to put having children on hold for a while…" Alex said sadly. "Then, that's what we'll do."

"I do want to have more children." Norma told him. "Just, not right now."

"I understand." Alex nodded and pulled into town.

They drove past an opulent old mansion that Norma had always admired. It was in a variation of the Queen Anne style she found appealing and that seemed to crop up in unexpected places in this town. The old house on the highway by that tacky motel, some of the grander neighborhoods where the older residents had made their homes generations ago. Even the farm house she now lived in had distinctive hints to the victorian age.

Yet this one was different. It was situated in town but on an expansive piece of property that clearly said it was older than most of the homes around it. It was all white with red shutters, an expansive porch and a single decorative tower that was the attic on the third floor.

"That house is so pretty." Norma nodded to the mansion that was no doubt filled with a happy family.

"It's Ed Warren's house." Alex told her casually.

Norma did a double take and was surprised at that he lived in such a home.

"It was his aunts. She left it to him after she died." he explained. "You should see the inside. Its' like something out of a museum. His aunt was very particular when it came to decorating and he refused to change anything after she passed."

"You were in Ed Warren's house?" Norma asked glancing back at the mansion as they drove past it.

"About a year ago he had a break in." Alex told her. "I responded to it. Looked like his aunt still lived there and she's been dead for years."

Now that she thought about it, Renee did say that Ed's house was very nice.

Renee had confided in her that she and Ed had been sleeping together almost every night since their dinner party. Renee would even share some of the more intimate details that made Norma blush slightly.

Norma wanted to confide in Alex what Renee had told her about sleeping with Ed, but she knew that wasn't her secret to tell. The young woman's grandparents were overprotective and wouldn't like the gossip to get out.

She had never suspected, the tall, humble man that was Ed Warren, would be as passionate as Renee described him.

"Renee is leaving for New York tomorrow." Norma told him instead.

"I'm sorry. I know you two have gotten close." Alex said.

Norma nodded.

"Yeah. I'll miss her." she said. "I'm sure I'm not the only one."


	100. Chapter 100

100.

~ There was something comforting about being in a well built home during a heavy snowstorm. To know that this house had sheltered generations before her and would keep her children just as safe and secure as Alex had been as a child. Probably more so.

"It's just the wind." he assured her when a horrible sound seemed to echo through the house like someone crying.

"What the hell, Alex?" Norma whispered.

The winter storm had knocked the power out and the boys had thankfully slept on, dead to the world in their separate rooms.

Norman had adapted surprisingly well to his new environment. He'd never had his own room before and his mother had worried the little boy would be afraid of a strange house. Yet, Norman seemed to like his personal space. He liked things to be neat and orderly. For his room to have a minimalist look with nothing on the little work desk Chick had salvaged for him from the basement. All his books and toys placed neatly on the shelves and his records put away carefully.

Even the way Norman slept in his bed seemed controlled. It was as if he was afraid of wrinkling the sheets too much so he somehow figured out how to sleep flat on his back and hardly disturbing the bedding at all.

Dylan, by contrast, thrived in a messy environment. His room was bursting with the kind of chaos that Norma hated. It was all she could do to just keep his dirty clothes off the floor and never mind the unmade bed or cluttered desk. Her oldest was currently curled up in a ball in his bed like a little mouse in a nest. His bedding completely twisted and tangled around him.

"It's an old house." Alex whispered when the wind howled through the attic rafters again and sounded like someone was trapped inside the walls. She closed the doors so the boys wouldn't be woken by the strange noises.

"Did it always do that?" she asked.

"Ever since I could remember." Alex admitted and shone his flashlight up the attic stairs. "It's just the wind coming in through the rafters and out again."

He closed the door leading up to the seldom used third floor that was all attic space.

"Sounds like this place is haunted!" Norma hissed and moved closer to him in delightful fear.

Alex grinned.

"Scared?" he asked playfully.

"No." she said stubbornly.

"Boys asleep?"

"Yes." she nodded back to their rooms when another gust of wind hit the house and that awful moaning could be heard.

"It's getting late." Alex said. "We should go to bed."

Norma gripped his hand and let him lead her down the dark stairs. The house having become strange to her in the eerie dimness.

"Are we going to lose power a lot?" she asked once they were downstairs and she could see the light from the windows in the living room.

"We're in the country." was Alex's only response.

"At least the boiler works." Norma sighed when they reached their bedroom and she was able to comfortably maneuver around again. The beam from the flashlight providing enough illumination to see by.

Alex closed their bedroom door and nodded.

"I'll have to leave early in the morning to help with the digging out." he said.

"Again?" Norma asked. "You worked all day yesterday!"

"Snowstorm isn't much different than the flooding we had." Alex explained. "We're first responders. We have to go out."

"I feel like I don't get to see you." she told him slipping off her robe and hurriedly climbing into bed before the cold got to her.

Alex, the winter chill never bothering him, took his time about joining her in bed.

"It's not much longer." he promised. "This will be the last big blow of winter and it isn't that bad. It's one of the hazards of being with a cop, Norma."

She was happy when he finally crawled into bed with her.

"Warm enough?" he asked when she wrapped her body around him.

"I will be." she admitted contentedly. "I just miss you. We haven't gotten much of a chance to plan the wedding or anything."

"I know." he said. "When the weather clears up, things will be easier."

"No, they won't. I'll be in school." she reminded him. "Remember, I start classes in two weeks?"

"That's right." Alex grinned fiendishly and pulled her close. "I'm sleeping with a cute college girl."

"Alex!" she giggled and felt a delightful spark ignite inside her at the way he wanted her. She loved how his hands wrapped around her body, his palms fitting neatly over her bottom and demanding she be close to him.

"It's only three days a week." she reminded him.

"I know." he said quickly.  
"But I'm sure I'll have a lot of homework. I haven't done school work in seven years Alex I have no idea how anymore." she admitted worriedly.

Alex kissed her forehead and she rubbed her bare feet over his till the cold went away.

"That's what I'm here for." he told her.

She nodded and couldn't ignore that delightful way that he was making her feel. A fire that hadn't burned inside her since the car accident.

She kissed him on the lips and Alex, seeing his opportunity, went for it. He rolled over on her and she felt her legs easily spread apart for him.

"I've missed you." he admitted in a husky voice as he pinned down her arms.

She let out a light gasp as his lips caressed her neck and ears and her legs rose around his hips.

"I've missed you so much." he admitted. He sounded almost drunk when he spoke now and his hip ground more forcefully into her. Not daring to enter her, but still apart of the dance they did.

Norma felt that wonderful, giddy delight rush through her. That reckless feeling that Alex was always capable of stirring inside her. Wild, wanton images sparked in her imagination of what she wanted him to do to her and her hips bucked rudely into him.

"Do you need me to stop?" Alex asked worriedly. His breathing coming hard now as he tried his best to tame her.

"I don't want to stop." she moaned softly.

"You sure?" he asked again.

"Stop being a gentleman, Alex." she warned and pushed her panties down so that her bare skin could enjoy as much of him as possible.

He didn't have to be told twice, he never did. Once permission had been granted, her wishes known, Alex was little better than a savage when it came to his lovemaking. It had been over a month since they had been together like this and it felt like the first time all over again.

Norma's skin blazed hot when it came into contact with his. Alex quickly stripping himself naked and branding her body with slow and deliberate kisses till she wanted to scream with repressed agony.

Added to that, he seemed intent on punishing her. His fingers making slow and deliberate circles around her clitoris till she thought she'd go insane. Her body spasming so often he repeatedly had to hold her down to avoid being scratched.

Why was he taking so long? She knew he was more than ready to take her. Her hands and fingers moving over his member and stroking him playfully, but not enough to satisfy him. She'd never be that nice to him and he knew it.

Finally he held her down again and refused to let her go. His heavy, well toned body rolling on top of her and she delighted in the protective way his full weight felt.

She could feel her own desire screaming for attention now and wanted to hate him for being so selfish and tormenting her with so much foreplay.

"God, I've missed you." he groaned helplessly before sliding himself easily inside her.

She could feel him thrusting, but her own arousal was so high that it became no more traumatic than a gentle wave inside her.

"Harder." she ordered and she could feel him oblige without being asked again.

Rudely, he pulled her hair back and she felt his member penetrate deep and almost savagely inside her.

"This what you want?" he demanded and she felt her insides spasm with the wonderful orgasm that was coming.

"Is it?" he asked again when she couldn't find her words.

"Yes!" she choked and allowed him to abuse her. "Yes, please!"

He was merciless and almost cruel when he took her. His lips the only kind thing on his body as Norma had her hair pulled back again so that she had to face her lover and allow him to enjoy her.

She tried not to scream when her orgasam took her and Alex still keep going. A drowning man pulling her under with him. His kiss on her neck and lips were still soft and his words were remarkably kind as he told her over and over how beautiful she was and how he'd always loved her.

Norma finally came down, weak legged and out of breath when Alex groaned his own completion

"Are you okay?" he asked quickly pushing her hair back off her face so he could make sure he hadn't been too hard on her.

She smothered a laugh and smiled.

"Yes." she admitted. "I'm fine."

"Sorry about that." he apologized. He'd returned to himself now that the beast inside him had been satisfied for now.

"Don't be." she sighed happily. "We were overdue."

Alex, his face relaxed and his breathing calmer, looked at her affectionally.

"Yeah we were." he admitted.

~ It felt like spring had arrived early when the sun was shinning like this. Norma had dropped the boys off at school and daycare, kissed Alex goodbye for the day and settled into her new routine as a student.

So far, she liked school. Or at least she had to tell herself that. It was a bit overwhelming with all the assignments and reading she had to suddenly do. She had always thought her days had been busy before with work and caring for the boys, but with scaling back her hours at Hilary's and the church, she would find it very difficult to do all the work load that was now saddled on her.

Her instructors weren't much help either. Her new phycology instructor, rather pompous in Norma's opinion, liked to talk during classroom time and then assign massive amounts of reading for the students to do after class. All of the students seemed to have no trouble keeping up with the demand of reading two or three boring chapters about positive and negative reinforcement, but Norma found it more difficult.

Then there was the English and History class, both of them easy enough till she reached the computer class Renee insisted she try. This required her to retrain her brain in a way that made her nervous. She had used computers before, but it had been a long time and the technology had made wild leaps till she wasn't sure where to begin.

Fortunately, the teacher was much more friendly and ready to help. Norma's fellow classmates were all as computer illiterate as she was and a few were even older than she was. Some were in their mid fifties in fact.

She tried to push back the frustration when she made a mistake and focus on the fact that she wanted to do this. She couldn't admit defeat just a couple of weeks in. No matter how hard things got.

~ There was still snow on the ground, but it was melting fast when Ed Warren came to the farm house unannounced to see her.

Norma had her phycology textbook and notes out in front of her and was trying to memorize the recent lecture from her idiot instructor. Never mind the fact the man was her age and kept trying to make eye contact with her like they shared a private joke.

She needed to take basic phycology, although she still wasn't certain what she would study as a major yet. She had to get through this semester first.

The knock on the door ripped her out of the confusing world of right and left brain functions and into reality again.

Norma looked dubiously at her required reading on the table she had yet to do and decided to answer the door.

"Ed?" she said with a smile when she saw her old friend looking disheveled in sweatpants and a hoodie. He didn't look well. More like he'd lost some sleep and even put on a few pounds in the past few days.

"Everything okay?" she asked and waved him inside where it wasn't so cold.

"Um…" Ed said distractedly and Norma waited for him to go on. He shook his head and looked around the living room confused.

"Ed, do you want some coffee?" she asked sympathetically.

Ed looked grateful and nodded.

"How's school going?" he asked sitting at her kitchen table and noticing all the books and hastily scribbled notes she'd written.

"Well, a lot harder than I remember high school being." Norma laughed. "I guess I had it pretty easy."

"You're smart." Ed told her soberly. His voice sounded sad. "You'll do fine."

She handed him a cup of coffee with cream and sugar in it.

"What's going on?" she asked sitting next to him.

Ed ignored the coffee and stared blankly ahead.

Norma couldn't think of anything to say when he wouldn't talk to her like this. She wasn't used to the normally confident and cheerful man being so… broken.

"Alex pointed out your house. The one your aunt left you." she said brightly. "It's beautiful. I love these old Queen Anne homes-"

"I just came to tell you I'll be gone for a few days, Norma." he said interrupting her. "I'm going to New York."

"To see Renee?" Norma concluded logically.

Ed looked away from her and nodded.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"Renee told me." she said.

"What else did she tell you?" Ed asked worriedly.  
"That the two of you… that you were together." Norma explained awkwardly. "It's not a big deal, Ed you're both adults and what you do is your business."

"She's pregnant." Ed gulped.

Norma felt her brain reject the whole idea of this statement.

"What?" she asked.

"Renee called me a few days ago. She said she's pregnant and that its' mine." Ed admitted.


	101. Chapter 101

101.

~ Norma desperately wanted to tell Alex about Renee's pregnancy and Ed Warren's involvement, but she couldn't make herself do it. Ed had confided in her something he was ashamed of and Renee hadn't told her about it at all.

To Norma, it felt like this wasn't her secret to tell. Not even to the person she loved and trusted the most.

Instead, she didn't say a word to Alex about Ed Warren's visit or the bombshell he'd dropped.

"I'll be so glad when the snow is finally gone." Alex sighed and collapsed onto the couch. He'd been outside with Dylan practicing while the sun was still out and warm enough to throw the ball around. As soon as it was dusk though, it got far too cold to do anything but be inside.

"I made chicken soup." Norma offered and he smiled.

"You know I've gained about ten pounds this winter." he said and Norma, taking that as a compliment grinned back.

"Is Dylan going to be ready for the little league team?" she asked.

"He's going to be the star." Alex assured her. He'd been re-taping the grip on one of his old bats and Norma didn't like him casually swinging it in the living room like he was in the dugout.

Still, she had a house full of boys including Alex. What could she expect?

"We haven't made wedding plans." Norma announced. The ring on her finger was sparkling like fire again and she always loved looking at it.

Alex looked up from his handy work and nodded.

"We've been a little busy." he told her nodding to the pile of books she had neatly stacked on the table. It had taken her three hours, but she had finished all her assignments except for the one for computer class. She'd have to go to the lab early tomorrow to finish that one.

"I know." she admitted. "I just think maybe we should just go ahead and do it. Just go down to City Hall and do it. No fuss, no frills. I'll just put on a nice dress, you'll wear a nice suit and tie and it will be our day."

"What about the church wedding? I thought you said Ed was coming around." Alex asked.

"I changed my mind." she insisted. The need to marry Alex had becoming pressing and very urgent. "Besides I already had a big fancy wedding with Sam and it's not as magical as you might think it is. I just want to get married. I just want to make it official. I just want us to be husband and wife."

"What about the boys?" Alex asked. He stood up and rested his old bat on the kitchen table. "I thought you wanted them there."

Norma shrugged.

"We can have them there." she said hopefully. "I'm just sick of waiting. We know what we want."

Alex gave her that amused little grin of his. That grin that told her he found her fascinating sometimes.

"Well alright." he said. "How does next week sound? On the 11th?"

"Sure." Norma said feeling those butterflies take wing in her stomach at the idea she would be his wife so quickly.

"You know what day the 11th is right?" he asked with that little grin.

Norma tried to think and her mental calendar said the 11th was just a Thursday and she didn't have any prior commitments that day.

"A Thursday?" she shrugged.

"Norma, you and the boys came here one year ago this coming Thursday." Alex told her gently.

Norma felt her here skip a beat.

"Really?" she asked in disbelief but she already knew that it was true. March the 11th in fact, was when Alex had arrested Sam and her life had changed so dramatically.

Alex nodded.

"I was planning on doing something special, but I guess marrying you would be special enough."

"A whole year." Norma breathed in shock. She hardly recognized herself anymore now that a year had passed.

"Do you want to do it on a different day?" Alex asked.

Norma shook her head.

"No." she smiled. "No, the 11th is perfect."

~ "Sybil, do you think it's too soon to get married? I've only known Alex for a year and we've been together even less." Norma asked.

Now that the wheels were finally in motion, Norma's inner demons were coming to crash the party.

The Old Dragon finished filling out the paperwork for their marriage license while Norma fixed her hair. The sudden humidity has made it frizz a little and no amount of heavy product would make it want to fall back into place.

The Court House of White Pine Bay was a modern building. Erected just a few years ago with an excess of funds the mayor went wild to spend. At leas that was how Sybil explained it. Norma thought it was nice but the Old Dragon called is excessive.

"No, I don't think it's too soon." she snapped and handed Norma the license for her to sign. "If anything you two should have gotten married a long time ago."

"This is my third time being married." Norma confessed when a crowd of people had walked past them. She smoothed out the pale, powder blue dress and quickly signed her name at the bottom.  
"My third husband. I'm never going to be any good at this." she admitted.

"Your second husband was awful and your first husband abandoned you when you were just nineteen." Sybil scoffed. "Little Bear isn't like that."

"I know." Norma sighed. "I know."

"Look, here he comes now with the boys." the Old Dragon said.

Norma saw Alex shepherding her two young sons into the building, Dylan holding a small bouquet of orange roses that were meant for her.  
"Here." her oldest gave her the flowers without enthusiasm.

"Good job, son." Alex scolded and pushed Dylan aside. "Sorry we're late. Had to stop for gas."

"It's alright." Sybil said in a cranky tone before Norma could respond. "It's not like you're doing anything important here today, Little Bear."

Norma glanced at the old woman and decided not to say anything. Sybil was just one of those women who could say and do as she pleased.

"Here. Before I forget." Sybil said and reached into her large black handbag and took out a heavy leather box. "This is for you. Something old."

"What is it?" Norma asked skeptically. The box did look old and worn out.  
"It belonged to my mother. She wore them at her wedding. I would like it if you wore them, kept them, and gave them to your daughter and so on and so on." Sybil explained with a little wave her hand.

Norma, still not understanding, opened the box and gasped at seeing the stunning strand of pearls neatly resting there.

"They are the real deal." Sybil told her. "My father gave them to my mother as a Christmas present and she wanted me to wear them for my wedding day. That never happened, so I'm giving them to you."

"Sybil." Norma started to refuse and tried to push them back.

"I won't take no for an answer." The Old Dragon said harshly. "They were just sitting in the family safe for decades now. Might as well be put to use. When you and Alex have little ones, or when one of the boys gets married, you can give them to the bride."

"Thank you, Sybil." Alex said before Norma could refuse again.

He took the box from her and neatly unclasped the pearls that no doubt cost thousands of dollars when they were new. They were heavy around her neck and felt just right. Not the fake, cheap kind of jewelry she had always worn before, but real jewelry like her ring. Pieces that were handed down through generations. The pearls were practically luminous from age and even Norman stopped and looked at her with admiration.

"You look pretty." her youngest said finally.

Norma let out a deep breath as Sybil had Alex sign the license form and turned it into the front desk.

"They suit you." he told her as soon as the old lady was out of ear shot.

"Why would she give them to me?" Norma whispered. "We're not family."

"We're the closest she has to it." Alex reminded her cooly.

"Norma Bates, Deputy Romero?" the clerk called suddenly and Norma felt the moment had finally arrived. "The judge will see you now."

"Ready?" Alex asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." she admitted feeling the sudden need to flee but gripping tightly to Alex so she would stay grounded.

~ The judge in question turned out to be a tiny little woman named Connie who held a very informal ceremony. Norma had expected her courtroom to be like the ones she saw on TV but she held the ceremony in her personal chambers with her own secretary and Sybil as the witnesses.

Connie smiled brightly at them and nodded at Norman and Dylan.

"We're here today to unite this man and this woman in marriage which is an honorable estate and not to be entered into lightly, but with great reverence and discretion. From this day forward you will belong entirely to each other." She began.

Norma felt nervous again when the judge called Alex by his given name of _Alexander_ and how easily he promised to love, honor and protect her till they were parted only by death. She wondered why the words 'protect' had been added to the vows here and not cherish. If that had been because this part of the country had once been so wild and untamed not very long ago, and the idea of protecting a family were still engrained into the fabric of marriage vows here.

"I do." Norma promised as easily as breathing when she was asked the same question.

Norman and Dylan looked at her when she let out a nervous sigh of relief and when Connie asked for the rings, it was a simple matter or Alex slipping on the silver wedding band they had bought just yesterday to accompany the large engagement ring already there.

Norma, still feeling nervous, had the irrational fear her ring to Alex wouldn't fit, but it went on his ring finger without trouble. When the judge told him he could kiss his bride, Alex looked at her as though he'd never kissed her before, and intended to make the most of the opportunity.

Norma felt that wonderful sensation of butterflies in her stomach again as he took her face between his hands and, as gently as she could ever want, yet with a much restrained passion as she knew he was holding back, he kissed her.

She remembered then why she was marrying him. Remembered how he'd rescued her from Sam. How he'd cared enough to make her get a restraining order. How he'd found Norman under the floor of her closet, how he'd held her youngest in his arms so protectively. How she trusted him, and only him, when she feared the worst about Shelby. How he didn't care about Dylan's real father and how he wanted to adopt her sons and how he already loved them like his own.

It had always been Alex and always would be Alex. She never wanted to love another man. She never wanted to be another man's wife.

When he pulled away from their first kiss as husband and wife, she still wanted more. Embarrassingly, she found herself leaning into him as though starved for physical affection. As though he still had her under a spell and she couldn't easily break free.

She felt her cheeks tint pink and she smiled a nervous smile.

"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Romero." the judge said sweetly and Norma felt her heart beat faster with happiness.

~ "I feel bad." Norma admitted and rested her head back on Alex's chest.

Everyone had promptly come home from the City Hall, changed out of their nice clothes and enjoyed the rest of the day off.

Norman and Dylan were playing outside now that the snow was almost gone and the weather was much warmer.

From their spot on the living room couch, Norma and Alex could watch the two boys running across the front yard and practically making laps around the house with some bizarre chasing came that had no rules.

She was too tired and happy today to care about the laundry she'd be doing from all the mud they were getting into.

"Why do you feel bad?" Alex whispered. His hands were gentle as they played with her fingers. The new wedding band on his own ring finger looked good on him and made Norma smile at the idea he was finally her husband.

"Violet." Norma confessed.

"I see." Alex sighed. "Ben and Vivian still haven't returned your calls?"

"I don't know what I could have done to piss them off." Norma sighed with frustration. "Violet really wanted to be here when we got married and now…"

"She'll understand." he told her.

"I wanted her here, Alex." Norma insisted. "I miss her. I want her to feel welcome here and to know that I'm still her family to. I've written her cards and letters and I haven't gotten anything back. Do you think the Harmon's just don't want Violet to see me anymore?"

"I'm sure they've just been busy." Alex told her.

"Maybe I should call up to the university where Vivian works." Norma sighed. "I don't know what to do."

"Norma." Alex said gently. "Ben and Vivian are her parents now."

"She's still my sister." Norma told him stubbornly.

"I know that, Mrs. Romero." he teased. "But we have to respect that maybe they need more time with her between visits."

Norma felt frustrated at the idea that maybe Alex was right. If they had adopted a little girl, the last thing they would want was a blood family member causing their new daughter to question where she belonged.

"I just want to see my sister, Alex." she complained and watched Norman trip and fall outside. She surprised herself that she didn't feel the need to leap up and run to his aide. It was something she would have done a year ago. She'd always been over protective of Norman and didn't want him hurt.

Now, it was as if the year here, the year with Alex and their lives changing so dramatically had made her realize Norman would be fine. That she didn't have to swoop in and protect him for every little thing.

Instead, she could lazily rest here in the living room and enjoy the moment of peace with Alex. Enjoy the fact she was finally his wife and there would be no more lonely night for either of them.

"Are you happy?" Alex asked when she nuzzled more securely against him.

"Very." she admitted. "I was so nervous about getting married. I almost ran out on you."

She caught Alex grinning.

"I doubt Sybil would have let you get too far. She wants me to be married off." he told her.

"I can't believe she gave me those pearls. They're a family heirloom." Norma sighed.

"Who else would she give them to?" Alex asked. "She never got married or had any children."

"We're not exactly family." Norma told him. "At least, I'm not. She treats you like a son."

"She's always been like that to me." Alex admitted. "Not sure why. She's always been a little overprotective of me. Wanted me to spend time with her in that big mansion. She even paid for me to go to summer camp in Montana when I was twelve."

Norma was feeling sleepy and it was too nice and comforting lounging on the sofa with Alex right now. She could easily fall asleep and not worry about fixing her family something to eat or washing the mud off of the boys clothes.

"Mom!" came a terrified cry and Norma was ripped away from her lazy repose to see Dylan rushing into the house with his mouth bleeding.

"What happened?" Norma gasped and her oldest showed the gap in his mouth where a tooth had come out.

"Mom! Mom, it just came out! We were running and I spit it out and there's blood everywhere!" Dylan said in a panic. His lips were bright red from the bleeding as he showed her the tiny baby tooth that had come out.

"Son." Alex sighed and maneuvered Norma into a sitting position. "You'll be fine. You just lost a baby tooth."

"I'm bleeding!" Dylan cried.

"It's just a baby tooth. You'll get your grown up teeth now." Norma told him.

"It's still bleeding." Dylan complained when Norma helped him clean up the blood around his face.

"It'll stop soon." Norma assured him. "You hang onto your tooth. It's worth some money when the tooth fairy comes."

"It is?" Dylan asked and looked uneasily at the discarded tooth still covered in bright red blood.

Norma helped him wash his first baby tooth and pat it dry.

"You'll leave it on your dresser tonight and when the tooth fairy comes, she'll leave you money." Norma promised.

"How much money?" Dylan asked skeptically looking over the tiny tooth. It seemed a fair trade to him. A useless tooth for money was a good deal.

"I'm not sure. Depends on how well you took care of your teeth. How often you brushed them." Norma told him.

Dylan seemed to be thinking hard on this aspect of the deal.

"What does the tooth fairy do with all the teeth?" he asked instead.

Norma was perplexed by this question, but had to think of an answer. She spied Alex bringing Norman inside for bath time. Making sure to take off his muddy shoes so as not to track them into the house.

Alex, always able to hold her small son with one arm as Norman showed him an interesting rock he'd found on the ground and wanted to add to his collection.

"Something about keeping them in jars." Norma said at last remembering how Norman kept a large pickle jar full of pebbles and rocks he liked. "I have to give your little brother his bath early. Remember to keep your tooth on the dresser tonight."

She gave Dylan a fresh paper towel but could see the bleeding had already stopped.

~ "Five bucks? I never got five bucks for a baby tooth." Alex said bitterly.

"You were deprived." Norma reminded him. "It's his first tooth and five dollars is a lot of money to a six year old."

"Well, it's a lot of money for an adult to." Alex reminded her. "Fine."

"I told him to leave it on his dresser. I want it for his baby book." Norma said

It felt like any other night with the children being given a bath and food being cooked and eaten. Hardly any distinction as their first night together as husband and wife.

Norma glared at him and made a move to untie her robe. Barely showing off the pale blue slip she had just bought that was scandalously see through and would make her new husband only pay attention to her and not that stupid paper work he was always bringing home.

She delighted in seeing the Alex gaze at her in sheer wonder and quickly close the file he was reading and save it for tomorrow.

"Come to bed, Mrs. Romero." he ordered a little breathlessly.


	102. Chapter 102

102.

~ "I would have come, Alex." Wilson said gruffly and slapped a few papers down on his desk in frustration.

Alex helped himself to some of the freshly made coffee and tried not to let the guilt trip hurt him.  
"I know." he said. "Norma and I, it was sort of last second."

"You kids just decided to elope and not tell anyone? I had to hear it from Connie that my first deputy got married? I had to listen to gossip about you, Alex. Gossip that turned out to be true. What am I going to tell Tess? She's going to be furious that you didn't invite us. Did you even stop and think about that?" Tom demanded.

"You're not gonna **ground** me are you?" Alex asked. "I wanted to take Norma to the Homecoming dance. Its' senior year after all."

"Don't be a smart ass, son." the sheriff snapped. "This is serious."

"I know, Tom." Alex admitted. "We just wanted to be married. We didn't want to make a big deal out of it."

Sheriff Wilson looked angry but finally relaxed his stance a little.

"I understand. I don't blame you. Hell, Tess and I ran off and got married to. Her parents were mad and so were mine. I would have shown up, Alex. So would Tess." he said gently.

"I know." Alex nodded. He felt a little sad that he and Norma had kept their sudden wedding so personal and exclusionary. The only person they told was Sybil. The Old Dragon would have never forgiven them if she had been snubbed.

"How does it feel to me a married man?" Tom asked and pointed to his own wedding band.

Alex glanced down at the silver wedding ring Norma had slipped on his finger yesterday afternoon. It was odd having this symbolic piece of jewelry now. It signified so much. Such a grand transformation had occurred between both of them in just 24 hours. He was now a husband and step-father to two young boys. He had that family he'd always longed for but never thought he would be able to have a year ago.

How times have changed.

"Pretty good." Alex confessed thinking of his bride on their wedding night. How Norma had looked in that sheer night dress and how nice it was to know this was his life now.

"Well, it seems your in good company. I heard a that Ed Warren got married in New York this past weekend." Tom told him.

Alex didn't register right away what Wilson had told him.

"What?" He asked. "What happened?"

"Ed Warren married that girl. Foster Burke's granddaughter." Tom said. "The one who was down here for winter break."

"Renee Burke." Alex said numbly. "She and Ed got married?"

He couldn't believe it. He didn't even know that Renee and Ed were involved.

"Yeah. It surprised a lot of people. Apparently they become very close over the winter. He went to see her in the city and now she's coming here to live with him." Tom told him.

"Renee and Ed?" Alex asked again.

"Did I stutter, son?" Tom scolded.

"I just… I didn't picture them together like that. Norma and I had them over for dinner and…" he shrugged.

"Well, while we're back on the subject of your new bride, have you heard anymore about the missing Harmon family and young Violet?" Tom asked.

Alex shook his head.

"I've called the university where Vivian Harmon worked and she quit three months ago. Ben published some book about kids who kill and went on a book tour. Maybe the family is with them." he admitted.

"Maybe." Tom said.

"I'm going to contact Charlotte today and find out exactly what's happening. I don't want them to think we're demanding to see Violet, but it's been months with no contact and we're getting worried." Alex admitted.

"Perfectly reasonable." Tom said.

"Its' like the Harmon's just vanished." Alex said. "What if the worst has happened? What if something happened to them and no one thought to tell us?"

"Best to call your FBI friend in then." Tom reminded him.

~ Norma re-read the letter that Ed had sent to her from New York City. He'd overnighted it to the church so that only Norma would receive it and not run the risk of Alex intercepting it.

Ed had detailed how his arrival hadn't been warmly received by Renee's parents. That they were understandably upset by her condition and his involvement in it. That they had pressured her to terminate the pregnancy but Renee and Ed had both rejected that idea.

With no other options, Ed and Renee had a small wedding ceremony in her parents luxury apartment with just a few guests. That her parents would have ruined him if he hadn't married her and then there was the matter of simply doing the honorable thing by Renee.

Norma felt uneasy when she read the last paragraph. How sorry Ed was for what he'd done and he had no excuse. How he had made a commitment to Renee now and their child. How he had to think of them and only them. How this baby and marriage wasn't a mistake, but a blessing.

Norma shook her head and carefully refolded the letter. She hid it in the seldom used books of sheet music that was hers alone and where she knew Alex or the boys would never find it. No one else in the house was musically inclined and it would never be found.

She wasn't sure what to think about Ed getting married. She certainly didn't love him. Not like she loved Alex. She cared for Ed. He was her friend and she enjoyed being around him, but when he'd refused to marry her and Alex, when her friend had claimed the man she loved would only hurt her, something broke between them.

Now, Ed had married Renee out of some sense or moral obligation. Or was it desperation?  
"Norma?" Alex called and Norma quickly slid the sheet music book back on the shelf where it would never be discovered, her hands going back to the piano keys as if she's been playing scales the entire time.

"In here!" Norma called and started practicing her scales like nothing was wrong. She had to lead choir practice and the new songs were complicated. She had been procrastinating with all the school work she had to do recently and she hated the idea she might not be ready for Sunday service.

"I don't know if you heard the news." Alex said shrugging off his leather coat and sliding down into the chair across from her piano.

"What news?" Norma asked and pretend to have great interest in the sheet music in front of her.

"Ed and Renee got married." Alex said.

He seemed to be waiting for Norma to have some sort of reaction and when she didn't say anything, he gathered she already knew the truth.

"Who told you?" he asked.

"I don't like gossip." Norma sighed.

"I just found out today. I didn't even know they were a couple." Alex said. "It's funny how people aren't at all together and then suddenly they are."

Norma almost told Alex how Renee was pregnant with Ed's baby. How Ed seemed to still have feeling for her despite now being married to another woman who was expecting his child. She said nothing though.

She didn't want Alex to think that Renee's pregnancy had anything to do with their own hasty wedding.

"Tom says they'll come back to town to live." Alex told her. "Looks like you'll be getting your friend Renee back after all."

"That'll be nice." Norma said with a little smile.

"I think its' good that Ed found someone." Alex sighed. Norma started to play a more somber melody. "He was always lonely. Even as a kid."

"I think he'll be happy with Renee." Norma said.

~ Charlotte Evans was out of the country when Alex had called, but after a few days, a fax appeared from her office saying that Ben and Vivian Harmon were being sued by the remaining family of child killer Gerald Hews for breaking confidentiality and embellishing his story in order to sell a book. That the family had sold the home that had given Norma and Alex the creeps, and had moved out of Florida.

No word on Max or Violet as it seemed they were now being home schooled.

Alex read over the note from his long time friend and felt that warm, familiar happiness that come to all real friendships. A feeling like no time had passed at all and they were exactly the same as they always were.

" _Alex,_

 _I tried to find a better contact information on the Harmon family but I could only find their lawyer since they are dealing with this lawsuit. Maybe its' best to contact the lawyer first and it might not be a bad idea to obtain legal council to set up visitation for Violet. I read over the lawsuit against Ben Harmon and the Hews family had grounds._

 _By the way, when were you going to tell me you got married? Think I wouldn't have found out? I'm FBI, you turd. Congratulations to both of you. I'm so happy Norma finally made you an honest man. You're going to be an awesome husband and father."_

Alex grinned at note and imagined the stunningly beautiful Charlotte chewing him out for not telling her he'd married Norma without saying anything and couldn't wait for them to eventually meet in person.

The problem with Violet and the Harmon's however, sounded more and more problematic.

~ Hardly anyone got married in the winter time, with the exception of herself and Renee, and so Norma's second job decorating wedding cakes hadn't been very busy. This had been fine because of her school work, but now that spring was starting back up again, so were weddings.

She had missed the efficient work of the kitchen and making wedding cakes. The money didn't hurt either.

"I heard you and that not so delightful Alex Romero got married." Hilary said with a little knowing grin. "Didn't think any woman in town was brave enough to poke **that** bear."

"It's a challenge." Norma blushed.

"I never thought of Alex as the marrying type. Reminds me too much of his father and you know what they say about cops." Hilary shrugged.

"What do they say?" Norma asked worriedly.

"They tend to skirt around on their wives just because they can." Hilary admitted. "I know the Old Bear did and most of the cops here do."

"Sheriff Wilson doesn't." Norma pointed out.

"Maybe he just doesn't get caught." Hilary said.

"You married that guy who was in all those news clippings?" one of the new girls asked and nodded to the door of one of the walk in freezers. Hilary had kept several of Alex's clippings stuck there depicting Norman's rescue as well as all the rescues from the storm earlier that year.

"Um… yeah." Norma admitted feeling the conversation turn in a direction she wasn't comfortable with.  
"Suzy has a big crush on your husband, Norma." Hilary teased.

"I've seen him around town. He stopped this fight at this bar, and body slammed this guy into a car. He'd been hitting his girlfriend and it was amazing!" Suzy told the group. "He's not very friendly though." she added. "I said hi to him and he just scowled at me and walked away."

"Well, I imagine he's plenty friendly to Norma." Hilary mused in a sing song voice.

Norma rolled her eyes. She knew what question was coming next.

"When are you two going to start having babies?" Hilary asked.

"Not till after I'm done with school." Norma assured her. "So at least four years."  
"I thought you were just going for a few semesters." Hilary wrinkled her nose.

"No, I want a degree and Alex supports that." Norma said.

"Why didn't you and Deputy Romero have a real wedding, Norma?" Nancy suddenly snapped as Hilary showed Norma the plans for an insanely large wedding cake that would take two days to make.

"What?" Norma asked being pulled from her plans on how to start such a large project.

"You heard me." Nancy accused. She was the only cook that stayed with Hilary with any sort of consistency. She also had no trouble judging others as she saw fit.

"Why didn't you have a wedding?" Nancy demanded again as if Norma and Alex had run over a small child as well as neglect to hold an expensive wedding.

"Why would we?" Norma asked as an answer.

"Well, I guess since this isn't your first marriage." Nancy huffed. "It might not mean as much to you."

Norma glared at the line cook who's outward appearance was just as awful as her inward attitude. Nancy subsisted on junk food and had the large, bulky mass of a middle aged football player despite being just a few years older than Norma.

"Weddings, a **real** wedding, means something. It means till death do you part. Getting married at City Hall? That means nothing." Nancy told them.

"Nancy, didn't you have a baby a few years ago with your ex-husbands friend?" one of the new girls asked politely.

"That's my business." Nancy snapped.

"You were still married to your husband at the time." The new girl reminded her. "And didn't your husband cheat on you when he found out? With that girl he's married to now?"

 **This scene between Norma and her co-workers talking about her recent marriage to Alex was a fan request. If anyone has any requests, please give me a shout out and I'll do my best!**


	103. Chapter 103

103.

~ "You should have seen Ed when he met my parents." Renee said. "No one stands up to my dad, but he did."

Norma handed her friend some chamomile tea and noticed she looked a little tired, but radiantly happy. In fact, she'd never seen anyone look as content and blissful as the new Mrs. Warren did just now.

"My parents were so awful to him. They kept demanding I get an abortion, but Ed literally put himself between me and them and said that wasn't going to happen. That he didn't care what they said or thought, he would take me back home and they would never see their grandchild if they talked to me like that again."

"What did they say?" Norma asked.

She glanced outside where Alex, Ed and the boys tossing a baseball around. She found herself fully enraptured by the drama that was Renee's retelling of the hasty marriage to Ed.

"That they would ruin him." Renee sighed. "That they would find a way to take his church away from him for getting me pregnant without being married first. All sorts of threats that they could make good on."

"What did he say?" Norma gasped. She wanted to picture every detail of this encounter and thought it was terribly romantic of Ed to stand up for Renee like she was describing.

"He said they could try but it wouldn't change anything. He could still support me and our child. That if I wanted to get married, then we would, but he wasn't going to be threatened or bullied by anyone." Renee said.

"So you two got married?" Norma asked.

"I think my parents, my mother especially, was scared she would never see me and the baby again if they alienated us too much. They could tell Ed is a good guy who cares for me. They didn't like it, but they hosted a small wedding and agreed to give me part of my trust fund so Ed and I wont have to struggle. I think they have some crazy idea that Ed is impoverished or something." Renee smiled and looked affectionately at her wedding ring. Norma noticed the brilliant sapphire looked antique and very unique.

Her own hand fluttered to the heavy strand of pearls Sybil had given her on her own wedding day. She only wore them on Sunday and for special occasions. Like when she wanted to impress people. The pearls feeling like a sort of armor in a way. As if Sybil's own tenacity was with her and protecting her.

"Family heirloom?" she asked nodding to the fancy ring.

"Belonged to his aunt." Renee said. "It's so different. I hate traditional diamonds and its' like it was made for me. He brought it with him when he came to New York."

Norma nodded.

"Anyway, with my trust fund, Ed keeping his position with the church and the fact he owns that big house that belonged to his aunt, I think we'll be fine. We're going to start working on the nursery soon." she smiled.

"That's great." Norma said and meant it. Renee looked very happy and remarkably calm. "But, what about school?" she asked suddenly.

"I can still finish." Renee said quickly. "I only have one more semester to go and I can transfer my credits to graduate here."

Renee looked out the window at Alex and Ed tossing the ball to Dylan. The child holding a bat and doing his best to hit with Norman tending to his rabbits in their outdoor pin.

"I know that it might seem like this was all a big mistake, but I'm right where I want to be, Norma." she said happily.

~ "What exactly were you hoping to get out of Ed and Renee coming over?" Alex asked that evening while Norma was the bathroom. She'd changed into a blue night gown that was cute, but not at all sexy. For the first time in her life she applied a nightly moisturizer to her face. Seeing Renee today, with that radiant pregnancy glow, had made her look at her own skin with disdain. She noticed how dry it looked from the winter and how dull and washed out of color her face was. She would have to get some sun this spring. Eat some more fruit and drink more water.

"She's my friend." Norma told him applying a thin coat of the expensive moisturizer to her face and neck just like the directions said.

"She's my friend and she's going through a stressful time right now. I want her to know we're here for her." Norma went on and tried to judge how her breasts looked over the frumpy night dress. She'd noticed how Renee's breasts were a lot perkier and was slightly envious. She'd always breastfed Dylan and Norman because she never could afford formula and because she had heard it was better for the baby, as well as the best way to lose the pregnancy weight. Now, unbuttoning her night dress and looking at her own naked breasts, she thought they looked deflated and nothing like how they should look for a young woman who was still in her twenties.

"Norma?" Alex called from their bed.

"Yeah, I'm coming." Norma said and buttoned her night dress back up. "What did you and Ed talk about?"

She emerged from their bathroom casually running a brush through her hair.  
"I think he's a little worried about what people are going to say. About the baby and their hasty marriage in New York." Alex sighed and Norma saw he looked a little disappointed she was in such a simple night dress. A look that defiantly said. ' _Not tonight, dear_ '.

"They haven't told anyone but us that their pregnant." Norma added sadly. "It's depressing to keep that kind of thing secret. Trust me. I had to do it with Dylan for the first three months. Then everyone was looking at me like I should be ashamed of myself. I guess that's why I want to really be there for Renee. People are going to be looking down on her to. Like she did something bad. No one ever treats the man like he's guilty."

"We'll public opinion isn't out yet." Alex sighed. "Who knows what the congregation will do once they find out."

Alex smiled.

"Renee told me that her parents wanted her to have an abortion. That Ed wouldn't let them bully them into it." Norma told him. Now that Renee and Ed had dropped the pregnancy bomb to them, and only them, she felt better about telling him these things.

"Sounds about right." Alex said running a hand over Norma's arm. Apart of her body that wasn't covered by her night gown. He had that mischievous look on his face that she knew all too well and she couldn't help but smile back.

"It sounded really romantic." Norma sighed and had to look away to keep from falling for his boyish charms. "I kept picturing you doing something like that. Coming to my rescue saying no one was going to take our baby."

"Oh, absolutely." Alex murmured with that same up-to-no-good smile that spoke volumes. "Come here, Mrs. Romero and I'll prove it."

~ Norman Bates couldn't sleep, couldn't relax until everything was put into order. The rabies in mother's greenhouse were fed, watered, counted, recounted and locked in their pin. Mother had made sure he had his bath and she had given him the dinosaur pajamas tonight. Dinosaurs were okay, so long as they had blue, green and white in them. He liked the colors blue and green. Mother wore blue a lot and he liked green because of the grass outside was green.

Blue and green were safe colors. Good and calming. No yellow and especially no red. Norman hated red. Red was a very bad color and was dangerous. He didn't like yellow because Alex disliked yellow. Alex didn't want yellow in the new house and didn't want mother to have yellow colors anywhere. Norman wasn't sure why yellow was a bad color, but he trusted Alex to know why.

Kaki was okay. So was olive. They were the colors of Alex's uniform and they were safe like the black and white of his SUV that flashed the lights. Mother liked it when his SUV came home. Although Norman didn't like the flashing lights or the sirens.

Mother and Alex had friends over for dinner and that was okay to because the food was really nice. Norman liked Pastor Warren because the tall man was always kneeling down to talk to him and telling him always listened to him so he wouldn't fade away.

Sometimes Norman didn't like it when people looked him in the eye. It made him nervous and he would look away like Graceland would if you looked her in the eye. He didn't mind Pastor Warren though. Pastor Warren was a nice man who would give him and his brother donuts and tell them not to tell their mother. On Sundays, he'd always ask Norman what he learned about in Sunday school, and Norman would remember exactly the colorful books he and Emma would share during class.

That they would giggle and laugh at the pictures of Adam and Eve and how Norman would think it strange that they always managed to stand just right so that bushes and trees would cover certain parts. He had mentioned this to the Sunday school teacher and maybe it had been the wrong thing to say because Alex talked to him about boy parts and girl parts. He had sat him and his brother Dylan down and told them about how girls and boys had different parts. Something Norman already knew. He'd noticed a long time ago that Alex and his mother had different bodies. That Alex was stronger than his mother, but his mother was a lot softer to the touch. Their voices and hair was different to.

Norman liked his friend Emma at Sunday school. She was the only kid who would play with him. She usually decided what they would play and she always wanted to play house.

Norman also knew his friend Emma was a girl and didn't have the same parts as him. He also knew she was broken. She was like a toy that mother had sent back to the manufacture to be fixed. 'Defective' was the word she had used over the phone. Emma had trouble breathing and Norman wanted her to be sent back to the manufacture to be fixed.

Emma explained to him how they would get married and she would stay home with the babies while he worked. Norman agreed because that seemed like a fair deal. He didn't like the idea of babies and Emma should have to take care of them. He could take care of rabbits because they didn't cry.

Norman liked Alex because he made his mother smile a lot and he liked it when mother was happy. She never smiled until she met him. When Alex was home, mother smiled all the time. Good food appeared and Norman felt very safe. Norman had nightmares for a long time about a bad man hurting them, but when Alex started to stay with them more, the nightmares went away. Alex wasn't afraid of things and Dylan and mother liked having him around. Norman just didn't like the fact that mother's bed wasn't big enough for him to sleep with her anymore. That Alex told him he had to sleep in his own bed alone. He didn't like to sleep alone.

Norman liked his new room, but didn't like the noise the wind made at night. Sometimes he would crawl into bed with Dylan when it got too scary. Mother and Alex had been keeping their bedroom door locked downstairs and Norman hated that. It felt like they didn't love him anymore. That they didn't want him around and didn't care about him. That they wanted him to disappear.

He didn't know how to disappear but if he stayed quite long enough, he could feel himself fading away and mother couldn't find him. Then it was like he was a ghost. He was afraid sometimes if he forgot how to talk, he really would fade away and no one would be able to find him.

What Norman liked about his room was that he could have his things like he wanted and no one would bother them. Alex had found him old glass pickle jars to keep his rock collection in. Also his penny collection, his button collection, his seashell collection and all the little oddities he kept finding around the farm. Old broken glass and nails that big man named Chick said was a hundred years old and full of something called 'tetanus'. One time Chick brought him a real arrow head he'd found in the woods and Norman was worried the rightful owners would come to the house looking for it and hurt mother.

He'd been so worried about it, that he'd gone to Alex who was working on the large blue and white tank car called Lucy and showed him the relic and expressed his fear of impeding attack. That he was worried mother would be hurt and even die and have to be put in a box like Simon. That he didn't want mother to be put in the ground and he worried all the time about Simon being in the ground. He worried Simon was cold and lonely in his box and bored with nothing to do.

Alex had listened to him and said that the people who owned the arrow head didn't live around here anymore. He'd said that they threw it away just like Norman helped Dylan throw away the trash last week. He'd said that it was just Simon's body that was in the ground and Simon was really with his wife Ellie.

Then Alex told him that no one would ever hurt mother because he would stop them. That he wouldn't let anyone hurt mother.

"And I won't let anyone hurt you or your brother, son." he had said. "Besides, we should feel sorry for the man who attacks your mother, Norman."

"Why?" Norman asked.  
"Because, he would be carried out of here feet first before I even got here." Alex said.

Norman didn't understand and wasn't entirely convinced. He still worried about mother being in a box and put in the ground one day. He didn't want to think about what he would do if that happened. What would he eat? Would he still have to take a bath? Would Alex still be there? What about the colors? Would the rules for the colors still apply if mother wasn't there?

Alex had stopped working on the big blue and white tank that day and took him inside and made him an ice cream. He had told Norman he wasn't allowed to think about mother dying and being put into a box until he was eighteen years old. A very long time from now. That children shouldn't worry about dying and Norman's only worry was to take care of the rabbits, help Dylan with his chores and do as he was told.

Norman had nodded and tried not to think about it. He would be four in the summertime. So that meant it would be forever till he was eighteen.

Mother had come home from work and had kissed him and told him she'd always be with him. Dylan had called him a cry baby and Alex and mother said he wasn't allowed to have ice cream because he was being mean.

Norman disliked a lot in his world, but the things he liked, were comforting. He was always afraid they would go away.

He was afraid to lose mother and Alex and Dylan. Afraid Emma was defective and wouldn't ever be fixed. Even if she came back from the manufacture. He was afraid the bunnies might die if he forgot to feed them. He was afraid if his room wasn't clean and orderly, he might not be able to think strait. That he might get lost and confused and have to leave. That he might forget how to talk and fade away forever and mother couldn't find him.

Still, sometimes he liked going into Dylan's room and getting into bed with him. Tonight it was raining really hard and he had a dream about mother. That she was in the box being put into the ground and her eyes were open and strange. Strange like milk in cereal or oatmeal.

He woke up and saw it was still dark outside. Darkness meant sleep. He couldn't sleep after a dream like that. What if it was true? What if mother was in the box right now?

He didn't like leaving his room where everything was neat and orderly, but he crept out into the dark hallway to his brother's room. Darkness never bothered Norman. There was nothing there in the darkness that wasn't there in the light. Dylan was afraid of the dark sometimes, but just because you couldn't see something, doesn't mean you should be afraid of it.

"Dylan?" Norman called and opened the door. Mother didn't allow locks on the doors except to the front and back door and to her bedroom with Alex.

"Norman, quit being a baby." Dylan groaned when a flash of lighting erupted and made Dylan jump.

"Come on!" Dylan waved at him to jump into bed with him.

"I had that dream again that mother died." Norman complained once he was safely under the covers.

"That dream is stupid. Mom isn't going to die. Alex won't let her die. He's our dad now and he'll stop anything that tries to kill her." Dylan said pulling the covers over both of them like a tent.

"How will he stop the things that want to kill mother?" Norman asked. He was curious now and Dylan always had all the answers.

"Alex has guns. Remember? I told you he shoots the bad guys with them." Dylan said. "You remember when mom broke her arm? Alex saved her from a bad man and killed him. Now everyone is too afraid of him to ever hurt our mom or us."

"He killed that man?" Norman asked in disbelief. He vaguely remembered mother having something wrong with her arm.

"Yeah." Dylan said. "I saw all the blood. When you're older I'll tell you more about it. No one is going to hurt mother because Alex is our dad now and he'd going to be the Sheriff in a few weeks and we'll be the Sheriff's kids."

"What does that mean?" Norman asked.

"It means he's the boss. He's in charge of all the police. He's like that guy from that black and white gangster movie who all the gangsters were afraid would take them to jail." Dylan explained.

Norman liked the old movies the family would watch together sometimes in the small rec room. The people talked fast and with a strange accent. Men and women dressed nicely and were always pretending to fight and getting into interesting predicaments like having to babysit a leopard before realizing they were in love and having to get married.

If you told a girl you loved her, you had to get married if she loved you back. It must be the law or something.

"Mother and Alex had liked the gangster movie although mother had told Norman no one was really shot and no one really died in the movie. Everyone had gotten up after the movie was done. They were just pretending.

Norman knew they didn't go into a box and were put in the ground.

"I go to little league next week." Dylan whispered. "I'm gonna tell everyone how my dad is the Sheriff."

"Do we call Alex dad now?" Norman asked.

"I don't know." Dylan shrugged.

"Are we supposed to?"

"I don't know."

"What if he doesn't want us to? What if he gets mad?"

"He won't get mad. He only gets mad when I dropped the F-bomb at dinner in front of Pastor Warren." Dylan said. "Or when you let the rabbit sleep in your bed after you were told not to."

"I hope he won't get mad if we call him dad." Norman sighed and curled next to his brother as the wind howled louder.


	104. Chapter 104

104.

 **~ Two Years Later ~**

~ Norma had the habit of waking up early in the morning with the boys still asleep and a couple of hours to kill before she had to get up. It was a habit she couldn't seem to get out of when she and Alex found it was more convenient and productive to enjoy their alone time in the early morning hours. The house was always quite and peaceful this time of day and it felt like they had all the time in the world to enjoy each other.

"Morning." she grinned at her sleepy eyed husband who stopped snoring long enough to let her know he was awake to.

"A very good morning." he said greedily running a hand along her hip.

There was something so delightful about being desired by him. Even after three years of sharing a life and two years of marriage, Alex still looked her over with utter fascination.

"I look like a mess." Norma groaned and tried to pat down the wild strands of hair that were no doubt going everywhere. Her new beautician liked to cut her hair a little too short and, although Norma found the new style easier, she always found her morning appearance frightening till she could run a comb through her hair.

"You look beautiful." Alex said pulling her towards him.

She could tell he was in the mood for their morning ritual of kissing, cuddling and quick but affectionate sex.

"Sheriff." she whimpered slightly when he started to nuzzle her ear. "Don't you have that morning meeting in an hour?"

Alex groaned and she felt his grasp on her relax.

"I just don't want us to start something we can't finish." she said sweetly. "Or do something halfway."

"Fine." Alex sighed and rolled away from her.

"I'll go make us some coffee and get the boys up." she said kissing him.

It was the wrong thing to do. In Alex's mind, they were still on their honeymoon and just a simple kiss seemed to start the engines once more.  
"Alex?" she reminded him sweetly as he tried to roll her over.

"Yes, Mrs. Romero?" he said innocently and trailed kissed down her neck like he knew she liked. She let out a giggle.

"Alex, early meeting. George will be there." she reminded him.

"The mayor." he laughed. "Wouldn't want to keep the mayor waiting."

"No, you don't." she told him. "I promise I'll make up to you tonight."

Alex let out a sigh and finally released her.

"Promise?" he asked.

She skirted out of bed and smiled broadly at him.

"Yeah, we'll drop Norman off with Tom and Tess. It's Friday and Dylan can spend the night with one of his little friends. We'll have the house to ourselves." she said and smoothed out her hair.

"Fine." Alex sighed and tried to hide his mild disappointment.

"Let me make us that coffee and your lunch." she said. "You need to get dressed."

"Yeah. Give me a minute." he said with mild annoyance and discomfort.

Norma tried not to smile too broadly or feel too proud of herself. It was a good feeling to know her husband still wanted her as much today as he did the first time they were ever together.

~ With juggling the boys, their needs, a husband and going back to school, something had to give. That something for Norma was her jobs. Renee coming to live in White Pine Bay meant the church wouldn't need her as a music director anymore. At least not full-time. She helped out after Renee gave birth to a healthy baby boy they named Foster and needed some time off, but it was a relief to pass the job onto someone who was better.

Norma had left Hilary's catering place to and only occasionally helped out with the large wedding cakes anymore. Thankfully, Sybil stepped in and offered Norma a job at City Hall that would allow her to earn college credits as a modest income. Even if it was nothing more impressive than answering phones and typing in old documents into the new computer systems. A chore that seemed like it would never end given that family services in White Pine Bay had all their hard copies on paper going back to the turn of the century.

With George Helden as their new mayor, the entire city was being updated. Small businesses were given tax breaks so they could grow and the millionaires were being taxed for the mansions that kept popping up.

Suddenly there was money for social programs and parks. Dylan's Little League was fully funded again and so was the parenting program Sybil had wanted. All of the changes seemed extremely positive and were happening quickly. Or maybe it just seemed that way to Norma. Her own life having changed so rapidly in just a few years.

Norma only had to work three days a week and she was done in plenty of time to pick the boys up from school. The rest of her week was devoted to driving to Portland for classes in family studies and social economics. All interesting and helpful to her major.

Sybil had convinced her, against Alex's advice to work for the city in family services.

"You've got the right no nonsense temperament, dear." the Old Dragon had said. "You don't scare easily and that's important."

Norma wasn't sure if she wanted to be a social worker like Sybil or not, but she found she could maneuver through the waters of politics with Sybil's help easily. The Old Dragon knowing everyone in town, as well as all the dirt on them. On the days that Norma work at City Hall, Sybil liked to have lunch with Norma in her large office and the Old Dragon loved to gossip about everyone till the younger woman felt as if she knew everyone in town personally.

The two of them sitting on the large red leather sofa and talking together just like mother and daughter might. It always made Norma feel closer to Sybil than she ever had to her real mother.

~ Alex fit into the role of Sheriff easier than he ever thought possible. When he first came back home to White Pine Bay, he never pictured himself as a husband and father one day. Never saw himself as Sheriff even, yet here he was, sitting at his own father's desk with a nicely framed family picture next to his phone. His own plaques and awards on the wall for sharpshooting and community service. He'd forgotten how many he'd earned in the past few years. Especially since meeting Norma. Since he'd been appointed interim Sheriff and later winning the election last year, the accolades kept coming.

Voters and the city council members loved the new Sheriff Romero, his extremely photogenic wife and their two well mannered boys. The fact that Alex was good friends with Mayor Helden and they supported each other on every initiative didn't hurt either.

Alex hated to admit it, but George Helden made a great mayor. He was resourceful and had a good head for business. He didn't tell people what they wanted to hear, but was very kind and sympathetic to struggles.

"I would like to know more about why this bar, Sheriff." George said during the early morning meeting."All these arrests in just a few months?"

Alex sighed. He knew exactly which bar the mayor was talking about. It was the same one that had been giving him headaches for the past year now. The sleazy place outside of town where he'd had to pick up Rebecca more than two years ago and take her home for her own safety.

"They aren't breaking any city codes." Alex said. "Look, I'm not my dad. I'm not going to burn the place down or get a group of guys together and smash it up. They have the right to do business, George."

Mayor Helden rolled his eyes.

"How are we going to get the summer tourist trade to increase if we keep getting more and more violent incidents out of that place?" he asked.

That place, had no real name and didn't need one. Alex had been called out there almost every night for the past three months due to some sort of violence. More than once he saw Rebecca there.

It was odd to think of Rebecca as a mother these days. She'd given birth to a baby that Alex only ever saw the birth announcement for. A little girl she had named Evelyn. Rebecca's new husband, Doug White, the bars owner, had adopted the baby. Alex wouldn't have trusted Doug White to adopt a stray cat. If he ran his family like he ran his business, Alex worried about the health and safety of the baby.

"I can arrest the ones who start the trouble." Alex said calmly. "I can't shut down the bar. They don't sell to minors as far as I can tell and they haven't broken any laws. All they do is sell bottled beer and show the game on a big screen TV. There is no health code violation because they don't serve food and their license is current. You'll have to change the law for me to be able to shut them down."

~ "How'd the meeting go, Sheriff?" White asked as soon as Alex was back at the station. He wanted to get back to his office and not answer anymore questions. He liked his office. He liked that he could close his door and shut out the world and be alone with his thoughts.

"Bad." Alex grumbled darkly and rudely closed his office door.

Tom Wilson had retired as Sheriff just in time. He seemed to know what was coming. He'd had a mild stroke just a few weeks after leaving the job and with the help of intense rehab and his wife's care, he was back to normal. He wasn't at all eager to return to the stress of being Sheriff though and Alex didn't blame him. In many ways, it felt like his second job as Dylan's little league coach. They loved you only if you had winning seasons and blamed you if you lost one game. Sometimes he thought Tom had the right idea. Retire early and write mystery novels.

Norma loved having a real writer in the family. Their small community favoring the former Sheriff as their very own Stephen King. He'd only written two books now, one had yet to be published, but his first book had done very well. It was about a mysterious body turning up in the water and a suspect list that included the victims sister and the dashing investors best friend. Alex had no trouble guessing that the story was based on Keith Summers. The story ended very differently from the real case which was officially ruled death my misadventure.

In Tom's book, the victim was turned out to not be so innocent as he'd been perceived to be and a grand conspiracy was hatched to get rid of him. No one could take the fall for the crime, because no one knew all the details. Alex thought it was very a clever ending and the conspirators got away with it although the detective did figure it out.

Sheriff Romero had been minding his own business when his office phone rang. Only Clarice rang his personal office phone and when picked up she didn't wait to tell him his son's school was on the other line.

"They said you have to pick little Norman up." Clarice said. "I tried to call your wife but she's out of the office. I'd call Mrs. Warren but they told me he has chicken pox and a fever and you know she's got the babies at home."

Alex rolled his eyes. So much for a sexy night in with Norma. He'd been looking forward to it all day and she was so good at being naughty for him.

"Want me to pick him up, Sheriff?" Clarice asked. "I don't mind."

"No." Alex sighed. "I'll go get him. Call the school back and tell them I'm on my way."

~ "Dad?" Norman groaned in frustration and Alex felt sympathy at the bright rashes that had sprung up on his son's face in just a few hours. It was clear Norman was running a fever now to, meaning he couldn't stay in school. These symptoms certainly weren't there that morning or Norma would have spotted them. Nothing escaped her hawk like inspection.

"Looks like you go the pox, son." Alex said and Norman started to scratch his face.

"It itches." Norman complained. "I feel hot."

"Well, it's harmless, and don't do scratch." Alex warned. "We'll go to the pharmacy and get some special lotion. You'll feel better."

"Why can't I stay in school?" Norman asked. "Its' parachute day."

"You have chicken pox." Alex said. "We need to get you home and watching TV right away."

~ A quick trip to the drug store to pick up calamine lotion to stop Norman from scratching and Alex had the little boy in front of Bob Barker in no time at all.

"This is because I spilled the red paint." Norman said bitterly.

"What?" Alex asked. He and Norma wondered about Norman's aversion to the color red. The had to avoid all things red because of it including having the barn painted a non traditional maroon color. Norman could tolerate maroon.

"I didn't want to paint with it in class and I dropped it and it spilled and it's stained all over the floor and now it's on my skin." Norman said and held up his arm as proof that spilling red paint had lead to his illness.

"Son, you have chicken pox. Your brother had it two when he was around your age. Your school said half the kindergarten class is out with it. It's perfectly normal. In a few days you'll be fine." Alex told him.

Norma shook his head and turned off the TV. He didn't like the flashing lights and noise of games shows.

~ "My poor baby." Norma sighed when Alex told her what happened over the phone. "Dylan shook off chicken pox after one day. I don't think Norman will be that resilient."

"The school tried to call you but you weren't at the office." Alex said heating up Norman some chicken soup.

"I was in the stacks. You know how much paper work this county has for family services?" Norma asked. "Anyway, I called Tommy's mom and asked her to pick Dylan up and have him stay over. God knows we've taken care of Tommy when her and her husband were going through a divorce.

"Norman thinks he got sick because he spilt red paint on the floor." Alex told her.

"He's always hated the color red." Norma sighed. "Not sure why. I'll see you tonight."

~ Norma hung up the phone and hoped she sounded convincing. She didn't like lying to her husband. She hoped she wouldn't get caught either, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. This new computer system was linked to every database in the country and only Sybil had access to it. The Old Dragon leaving her new computer unattended in her office for the moment. It was an easy thing for Norma to access it and type in any search she wanted on any child in America.

She did a quick search on herself and found fragmented school records and a handful of addresses that were more like a patchwork of her childhood. Nothing to paint a picture of her life at all. Her parents arrest records and of course that strange cult and the deadly raid that happened there. Her brother Caleb's arrest records and his disappearance more than two years ago. She was glad to see the case was inactive.

She quickly typed in Violet Harmon and her sister's adoptive parents names before the Old Dragon could come back. She could lose her easy job here at City Hall if she was discovered snooping.

"Los Angeles?" Norma whispered and pressed print just as Sybil's raspy voice echoed down the hall. In her usual fashion she was chewing out someone.

~ It was almost dusk before Norma made it back home. Lately, the blue Queen Anne house was feeling less like the show place it was when they moved in, and more and more like the working farm it once was.

After Tom's stroke, Tess had asked them to look after their chickens because she had to spend so much time with him in Portland doing rehab. Norman and Dylan becoming so attached and attending to them so well, Tess asked if they couldn't look after the chickens indefinitely.

Then there was the matter of the two new German Shepard puppies Alex was training to be future drug stiffing dogs. Rocky and Apollo. He didn't get the budget for it from the city. Didn't ask for it, but it wasn't too hard to train them with Graceland already showing the puppies how it was done. There was also the baby goat Norman had somehow inherited from a local farmer. The baby goat was sickly and dying and Norman, still a child of six, had taken care of the goat till it made a full recovery.

Naturally there were his rabbits as well. No longer kept in the greenhouse, but in a larger hutch in the barn. Norma learning the hard way that no matter how clean her son kept the hutch, they started to smell.

Not in a million years had she ever thought she would have so many animals around her. She liked order and cleanliness and animals brought chaos and dirt. Yet Alex kept the dogs well trained and Norman and Dylan were good about taking care of the needs of chickens, goats and rabbits alike. She couldn't complain too much.

"I heard you're not feeling well." Norma crept into the family room to see her youngest painting with a water coloring set.

Alex had set up an air mattress so he could sleep there if he wanted to.

"You don't want to watch TV?" Norma asked in surprise.

"No, I want to paint." Norman said crankily. "Dad made me come home."

"You were running a fever, honey." Norma ran a hand over her son's head and found he was still a little warm. She was happy to see Alex had put calamine lotion on him. "You can't stay in school when you're sick."

"I feel strange." Norman said and kept painting his picture of a blue cat.

"Do you want all of us to watch a movie together?" Norma asked.  
"No." Norman said.

"Do you want to go to your own room?"

"No."

"Okay." Norma said sensing her son just didn't feel well and was cranky. "Why don't I make you something nice to eat and we can leave you alone."

"I want ice cream." Norman said petulantly.

"You're running a fever. No ice cream." she said.

"Dad said I could have some."

"No, he didn't." Norma said with a grin. "Don't even try that on us, Mister."

Norman let out a little groan of disappointment and sulked. He started to paint some green whiskers on his blue cat.

"I'll come check on you in a little while." Norma smiled.

~ "How did your meeting go?" Norma asked while her and Alex cut vegetables.

"As well as a meeting with politicians can go." Alex said dully. "I was sort of glad to have an excuse to leave the office to tell you the truth."

"George still pressuring you about that bar?" Norma asked.

"Yeah. I keep telling him there's nothing I can do. I mean… I'm not my father, Norma. I'm not going to resort to beating people up in a parking lot or… or anything like he used to do." Alex said.

"Yeah." Norma sighed. "Rebecca. She's married to that guy who owns it. Right?"

"Yeah." Alex said.

Norma shrugged.

"I logged onto Sybil's computer today." she said breezily. Her demeanor chaining into a happy tone.

"Why?" Alex asked suspiciously.  
"I wanted to find out where Violet was. Turns out Ben and Vivian have moved to LA." Norma said.

Alex stopped cutting vegetables and looked at his wife.

She glared defiantly back at him.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to do that?" he asked.

"Because you would have tried to stop me." she said simply. "I'm tired of waiting, Alex. Waiting for the Harmon's to make contact with us. It's been over two years now and they have moved five times. Don't you think that's suspicious?"

"Are you going to try and get custody?" Alex asked.

Norma refused to look at him.

"If you are, I'll support that. But it's going to be a long and expensive process, Norma." he said.

"She's my sister." Norma told him sharply. "She's my family and I have to know she's okay."


	105. Chapter 105

105.

~ To their innocent amazement, Ed and Renee Warren found that they were pregnant again just a few short months after Foster was born. Nevertheless, they happily welcomed another healthy baby boy into the family. Foster and Cody, barely a year apart in age, made Norma realize she didn't envy Renee anymore.

She saw too much of the woman she used to be in the frazzled mother. Too many long nights of lost sleep and dealing with both babies getting sick at once. In just two years, that carefree girl, that girl who seemed so untouched by sadness and who was so optimistic about her future, was complexity gone.

"Norman had chicken pox. It's why I couldn't come over sooner." Norma explained rubbing the new baby's back and hoping to dislodge the mucus. She knew a croup cough when she heard it and by the sound of it, Foster had it to.

"The babies just wouldn't stop crying yesterday and now its' like it's hard for them to breathe." Renee said at the point of near exhaustion.

"Where's Ed?" Norma looked around the living room that Renee used as her downstairs nursery. When she had first seen the inside of Ed's home, she felt like she was being given a tour of a museum. Everything in it had been paingstainkinly preserved from the roaring 20's when this house was first built. Even the furnishings was on point and there were no recent or color photos on the walls or mantle that might spoil the illusion that they had somehow traveled back in time.

Norma finally understood what Alex had meant about a certain creepiness when it came to the Warren house. It looked very grand and opulent from a far, but it felt like there was something sinister just below the surface.

That changed when Renee moved in and the babies started arriving. The antique furniture was put into storage and more family friendly sofas and chairs were put in it's place. The interior no longer looked like a museum that was only to be observed behind a velvet rope, but not to be lived in.

"Ed's leading some teens against drinking group. Or teens against sex. I'm not sure which one." Renee sighed.

"Teens against sex." Norma sighed and managed to get baby Cody to cough up a large amount of mucus. The small baby breathing a little easier. "If we want to keep teens from being sexually active, lets take two croupy babies over there."

"Is it serious?" Renee asked. Her face worried when Cody coughed loudly again and he started to cry.

"They'll be fine. It doesn't sound that bad. We'll get them into the downstairs bathroom. The one close to the hot water heater. Enough steam and moisture in the air, they'll cough it up." Norma told her calmly.

~ "I feel like I'm taking advantage of you." Renee sighed. They were sitting on the edge of the large bathtub and each one holing a baby. Cody already breathing easier and Foster ready to cough at last.

"Renee, this is what we do. We help each other." Norma told her nuzzling Cody who only a few months old. "Besides, I sort of miss this. Taking care of babies."

It was true to. Cody felt wonderful in her arms. His warm little body curled up against her breast just like a little kitten would. She missed the days when Norman was young enough to hold this easily. Apart of her body aching for that feeling of motherhood again. That primal need for babies clawing at her with an unexpected savagery.

Renee's smile was weak. As if she could fall asleep right there in the edge of the bathtub.

"But don't tell, Alex." Norma said quickly. "He's had that look in his eye since…"

She had to think for a moment. It wasn't since the day they had met, but it was close. There never was a time when she didn't think of Alex as being a good father. The first time she had ever seen him, **really** seen him was inside the Sheriff's station that night he'd arrested Sam and he was telling Dylan about Graceland.

If she hadn't been so afraid of the dog back then, she might have been struck by how kind the deputy had been to her son.

It seemed so unfair at times to make a man like Alex wait to father children. Especially when he was so good to children that weren't even his. He treated her boys just like his own. It really felt as if they had that intense biological connection and Norma was often shocked when the school reminded her that Alex was only their step-father. Such a word felt so rude in her ears. Even after he'd formally adopted both the boys a year after they'd been married.

"Well, he's been wanting a baby for a while now." Norma admitted at last .

"It's just that, every time I have a problem, I call you." Renee said sadly. "I feel like I can't do anything on my own."

"When Dylan was two and Norman was a newborn, I had a neighbor woman who I depended on for everything." Norma admitted. "I didn't have a car and Sam would leave me for days on end. So, she would take me to the store, even pay for groceries for us. She showed me how to take care of them and I couldn't have survived without her."

Renee looked ready to cry.

"How do you manage?" she wept slightly. "With the two boys and Sam being so awful?"

Norma shrugged. She wasn't sure how she did it looking back. Except she had no other choice.

"Renee, this isn't forever." Norma said at last. "It's not always going to be like this. If you need help with the boys we're here for you."

~ After the babies and their mother were bathed and put to bed, Norma drove to the church to find Ed, not surprisingly, alone in his office.

"Your wife thinks you're working." Norma said letting herself in without knocking. It was after nine at night and she knew that Ed Warren was the type of man who didn't keep such late hours on a weekday. Not even to catch up on paperwork.

Ed looked up at her in surprise and she could see he'd been reading a newspaper.

"Enjoying time away from the chaos at home?" she asked. Norma wanted her words to sting and enjoyed the effect they had.

"Norma." he said calmly.

"Renee needs you at home. Foster and Cody have the croup and you're sitting here ignoring them?" she accused harshly.

"Look, Renee can handle them." Ed said lamely.

"No, she can't!" Norma spat. "She can't handle it, Ed. She's all alone in that big house and where are you? You're here enjoying your peace and quite and you're letting her deal with two sick babies on her own."

Norma Romero had never quite seen such a hateful look on Ed Warren's face before. She was used to his kindness and his gentle nature. She didn't know this person just now.  
"She was the one who wanted this life, Norma. Not me." he said harshly. His voice almost sinister and Norma took a step back for the fear the sudden change she saw in her friend.

Ed glared at her and she recognized the blood shot eyes and dilated pupils of someone who had been drinking.  
"She wanted…" he shook his head and let out a mirthless laugh. "She thought she wanted this life. **Your** life, Norma. She's finding out she doesn't have the fortitude for it."

"Ed." Norma sighed feeling shaken.

"Don't 'Ed' me!" he snapped harshly. "Look, I did the right thing. I married her. I gave her, and the child, a last name. I didn't want to have another one so soon. She kept… she swore she was on birth control. I did the right thing and I'll keep doing the right thing. Just leave me alone."

Norma couldn't do anything but stare at him. Stare at how pitifully sad he looked.

"Ed." she said at last. "Renee isn't doing well. There's a lot more to doing the right thing than just marrying her. You need to go home and help her."

"I don't want to go home." Ed admitted.

~ "He said that?" Alex asked with equal shock at Ed's behavior.

Norma rubbed the tears from her face and tried not to start crying again.

"Ed is the last person in the world I would have thought this about." she admitted. "Alex, I remember what it was like have two very young children and feeling so alone." she said. "I can't believe Ed is doing this to her."

"Norma, it's not our place to get involved in their lives." Alex sighed and she felt him nuzzle her hair in a way that always soothed her.

She had driven strait home and crawled into bed with her husband without even checking on the boys. A first for Norma during the entire time they'd been on this earth. She just needed her husband right now.

"I know… but… when Norman was a baby and Dylan was a toddler, I would have probably starved to death if people hadn't helped me." Norma sighed in frustration.

"Renee is not going to starve to death." Alex said calmly. "You're doing enough as it is, helping her with the babies. You have children of your own, a job, school and a husband to take care of not to mention your other plans. Give them time, they are just having a rough patch."

"What if they get a divorce and Renee take the boys away?" Norma said fitfully. She couldn't bare the thought of such a thing happening. It would break Ed's heart even if he wouldn't admit it.

Alex sighed and pulled her closer to him.

"Well, then that's their business. We have business of our own." he said.

~ "Gaining custody in a case like this is difficult." Sybil said looking annoyed. "Why didn't you two come to me sooner?"

Alex and Norma exchanged looks.

"We kept hoping the Harmons would make contact." Norma explained.

"The adoption was an open one and it's legal and final." Sybil said pressing Violet's file on her desk. "They don't have to do anything for you."

"What about this lawsuit?" Alex asked. "Isn't that a little odd? This Hews kid? His family suing them?"

"Lots of people get sued. I've been sued at least five times." Sybil shrugged carelessly. "The price you pay when people are jealous of you."

"Violet and her brother Max are not enrolled in any school system." Norma reminded the Old Dragon.  
"Doctor Ben Harmon has registered them both for an online home schooling course. He hand his wife had degrees and she's a dedicated teacher at the university level." Sybil said. "They are both more than qualified."

Norma rolled her eyes.

"Look, I understand your frustration but you're going about this the wrong way. Both of you." Sybil pointed between Alex and Norma. A white cloud of her cigarette smoke wafting over her head gave her the appearance of being more dragon like than ever before.

"Your first step is to become cleared as two people who are stable and who can give Violet a home. No judge will let you have your sister, blood or no, unless we do that first." Sybil said in a cranky voice.

"You know we're a fit home." Alex rolled his eyes.

"Don't take that attitude with me, young man. I didn't put up with it from the Old Bear and I won't put up with it from you." Sybil told him smartly.

Alex Romero, Sheriff of White Pine Bay, looked properly scolded by the tiny octogenarian sitting across from him.

"What do we have to do?" Norma asked.

"We have to get you certified by the county as proper foster parents. That way, if the judge rules in your favor, it won't be an issue to bring Violet right away into your home. You've already proven you're a safe, stable environment." Sybil explained easily.

"Great. Fill out the form." Alex said.

Sybil glared at him as if he'd just asked her to borrow the car for the weekend.

"What did I just say about your attitude?" she huffed again.

She turned to Norma who was more reasonable.

"I'll have to do a home inspection and take pictures." she said with remarkable calmness.

"Fine." Norma said easily while Alex seemed amazed he was still being scolded by the Old Dragon as if her were a teenager. "I have her own room ready for her. I'm just worried. If the Harmons won't return our calls…"

"I understand and we're going to fight for visitation." Sybil said. "It's going to be a long process and the Harmons might bring lawyers into it and fight dirty. Are you ready to do that?"

Norma smiled brightly and looked at Alex who nodded.

"We are. We can do this, Sybil." she said.


	106. Chapter 106

106.

~ As was her nature, Norma cooked a weeks worth of casseroles, did ten loads of laundry and tidied up the house all while keeping the two boys occupied and fed between naps. It wasn't her house, her laundry or her children, but that hardly mattered. She liked doing laundry and once she got started on cooking, it was hard to stop.

As for the two babies, she didn't want to tell Renee the new mother had been doing things the hard way. So, she let her take a long nap while she carried the baby monitor around in her apron pocket and when little Foster or Cody woke up, it took just a quick change, feeding and walk around the house to get them to settle back down again.

The babies liked the white noise of the ticking clock in the living room, and so it was easier for Norma to leave them curled in separate cribs there while she did her chores.

She hated the idea of Renee being alone in the house with the boys and Ed leaving her to essentially fend off herself. The memory of being trapped in a house with a crying baby and a screaming tantrum throwing toddler was still fresh in Norma's mind. Times when she had no car and no money to even go to the grocery store. Those were the days when she felt truly helpless. Sometimes, during the bleakest of times, the power would go out because Sam hadn't paid the bill and she would lock herself in the bathroom and cry over how hopeless she felt.

But she wasn't that girl anymore. She didn't feel that lost anymore and she planned to never feel like that again. She would start by making sure Renee never felt like that either. It was one thing to remember that kind of suffering, but it was another to allow another person to endure that to.

Still Foster and Cody were good babies and used to their schedules of sleeping and napping. The newborn Cody proving to be just too much too soon for his mother who was barely getting used to taking care of a baby and had to do it all over again so soon.

Norma made sure Foster stayed awake more so that he would sleep through the night. The infant crawling and trying to pull himself up to a standing position and wanting to walk soon. He didn't seem to appreciate that Norma had encaged him in a large pen like a zoo animal and glared at her with Ed's judging stare.

"Don't look at me like that, young man." Norma smiled holding Cody who ate greedily from a bottle. She enjoyed Cody the most because he had a genuine sweetness that reminded her of Norman. "I know what you want to do. You want to climb on the couch and then you'll fall off and break your neck and your mom will blame me."

Foster scowled with Ed Warren's face and pouted a little. He banged on the pin's lattice work wall, lost his balance and slid to the ground. His ample bottom cushioning his fall.

"This is a nice sight to come home to." Ed's voice interrupted Norma's laughter.

Norma wasn't expecting intrusion onto her own private time with the babies. She could feel the grip of what some women called 'baby fever' clutching hard on her just now and taking care of the two little ones just now was her way of reminding herself it wasn't easy. It was back firing though. Especially feeding Cody and watching Foster becoming so rebellious. It was like going back in time to see Dylan and Norman.

She glanced up in surprise at Ed who looked wrinkled and disheveled, but not intoxicated.

He nodded at her holding his newborn son.

"Renee's upstairs." Norma said flatly. "Sleeping."

Ed nodded and sat down next to her.  
"You've been here all day? Your one day off, Norma?" he asked.

"Dylan is on a camping trip and Norman is staying with Tess and Tom." she told him. "Renee needed the help."

She wanted Cody to finish his bottle but as greedy as he was, the baby took his time about eating.

"You're good at feeding him. He never wants to eat for me." Ed said watching her.

"Try rubbing his cheek." Norma offered. "It'll open his mouth up."

"I'm sorry for how I acted the other day." Ed sighed. "It's been so stressful. You can't imagine."

"I actually can, Ed." Norma said calmly. She didn't want to scare the babies just now with what she wanted to say to him. Instead, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I know exactly what you've been going through only I didn't have the same luxuries. I was alone in a tiny one bedroom apartment with an abusive, cheating husband. Who was never around and who didn't pay the bills and who didn't provide for us. I didn't even have a way to get the boys food and when the power would go out I would lock myself in the bathroom and cry. I know exactly how stressful this is, Ed and it's no excuse for you leaving Renee to drown. She can't do this on her own. She just can't."

Ed Warren looked horrified and ashamed of himself.

"I'm sorry." he said at last. "I… I was feeling sorry for myself."

"Why didn't you ask for help sooner?" Norma whispered as Cody finished his bottle and Norma effortlessly rolled him over to burp him. She quickly caught the spit up before it hit her pristine apron.

"I don't know." He told her. "Renee isn't like you, Norma. She's not strong like you. She can't do it all. Now that she has this life, I think she's looking for the exit. I think she wants to leave me and I'm terrified."

Norma glanced at Foster and back at Cody.

"You think she'll leave you and take the boys back to New York?" Norma whispered.

"I don't know. I just know she's not happy and… and I don't know what to do to fix it." Ed admitted.

Norma rubbed little Cody's back until she felt his breathing relax and knew he'd fallen asleep. She missed, desperately missed, that feeling of a warm little body pressed against hers. The way a sweet little face would press against her neck and how breathing would be soft and quick.

She let Cody's little fingers curl around hers in fascination before putting him back into his crib.

"You're going to have to be there for her." Norma said to the baby's father and she swaddled him in an expert wrap. "Or you'll lose everything."

Ed picked up his oldest son and Norma smiled softly at how much they looked alike.

"I can't help thinking that if you were their mother-" Ed started to say.

"I'm not." Norma interrupted sharply and stood up.

Ed looked heartbroken but held his son closer.

"I've done enough laundry to get you through the week at least. There's casseroles in the fridge for the week to. Renee needed a good rest and some alone time. Why don't you go and see her?" Norma told him gently before putting her coat on and leaving.

~ Alex was suspicious when he saw his favorite brand of ice-cream in the freezer and his favorite dinner, a pot roast, slow cooking in the oven. Norma practically forbid sugar in the house and almost never cooked with red meat. The real red flag though was the bottle of scotch that was sitting innocently on the counter. His favorite brand, and since Norma didn't drink and the boys certainly didn't…

"How was your day, dear?" he asked when his wife came back inside from her thriving greenhouse with fresh cut basil leaves for the roast.

Norma gave him her radiant smile and he noticed she was in that wine colored dress he liked. The one that was slightly too immodest without at little sweater and far too thin for this fall weather.

"Good." she said innocently. "Helped Renee with the babies."

"That's good." Alex said repeating her tone and hoping for clues to her odd behavior. His wife was predictable and he could read her moods. When she was angry or frustrated he could solve that. When she was sad or scared he was always the first person she went to. When she was happy, things in the house were calm and soothing. As though their home could enjoy sleep for a thousand years. He wasn't sure what to make of this. The air was radiating with an energy he wasn't used to feeling.

She glanced at him and smiled, without showing any teeth and he realized what the difference was. Her hair wasn't smoothed out, but it was curled slightly.

"You do something different with your hair?" he asked.

"Not really." she said handing him the bottle of scotch to open.

"I noticed the ice-cream in the freezer." he said feeling he police training come in. He'd solve his mystery one way or the other.

"Only if you're a good boy." Norma grinned and kissed him, but her lips sucked on his and refused to allow him to kiss her back. She pulled away and for an instant, Alex didn't know her at all. Who was this temptress?

"Where's Norman?" Alex swallowed hard. He didn't want to admit the arousal she had stirred in him. Didn't want to admit he liked the feeling of being toyed with. It reminded him of something… yet he couldn't put his finger on it.

His wife, his beautiful, loving wife wrapped her arms around his waist and unhooked his police belt, carefully putting in on the kitchen counter. He could smell her perfume, the high end perfume he'd gotten her for her birthday, on her skin.

"He's staying the night with Tom and Tess. We need our alone time, Sheriff." she purred.

Alex couldn't argue that fact and went to wrap his arms around he waist when she pushed his hands away rudely.

"Norma." Alex scolded and tried to run his hands over her backside again.

Catlike, her eyes still dancing maliciously and with a sinister grin she pushed his hands off her.

"Don't touch me." she ordered.

"What?" he gasped and felt his arousal buck angrily against his pants to the point it was slightly painful. Whatever game she was playing, it was working for him.

She smiled and kissed him. That same kiss that seemed to steal from him, seemed to take from him and leave him wanting more. When she pulled away, she was smiling maliciously.

"Don't you touch me." she warned playfully and forced his arms away from her enticing body.

He swallowed hard and tried to fight the feeling of being pulled under. It was like that time he'd been surfing in the cold waters further up north and he been crushed under a wave and almost drowned. Not able to tell which way was up, which way was daylight, which way was salvation.

"Baby." Alex warned and she pushed him ruddy onto the couch.

"Don't touch me." she hissed again and spitefully forced his arms to rest on the back of the couch.

Norma, why can't I touch you?" Alex whimpered as his wife ran her hands over the outline of his growing member. She grinned that satisfied little grin and unzipped him.

"If I have to, Sheriff, I'll use the cuffs." she warned sweetly and he gasped slightly as the fresh air made contact with delicate skin. Her hands working him into a firm hardness.

Sensing this was apart of a game still, Alex decided to enjoy himself. It was rare they ever got to have relations outside of their bedroom. Their lives consisting of bedtimes and school lunches. Never of antics that belonged in lurid tales of his old Playboys.

He wanted desperately to run his hands through her hair when her lips and mouth enveloped his member but he had to focus on the rules. Instead he gripped hard to the couch and enjoyed the warmth of her mouth pulling and sucking him as if she expected to drain him dry.

"Norma!" he cried painfully. The look on her face was one of satisfaction and for a moment, he though their game was over and he could have his wife again. Have all of her again and not have to keep his hands to himself.

He was wrong.

"Don't touch me." she warned again and he had to helplessly watch as she stripped that wine colored dress off. Watch her strip, slowly, the lacy see through unaware that was under it. All the while she looked as though she enjoyed tormenting him.

"Come here." he ordered and tried to reach for her again.

"Keep your hands to yourself, Sheriff." she warned.

Frustration, frustration at not being able to enjoy the woman he loved most radiated inside him, even as she pleasured him with her mouth again. He watch her in fascination as her eyes met his and with a swift and beautiful movement, she mounted him and he watch his member go inside her.

He groaned but didn't climax as the feeling overwhelmed her. She had always felt like a warm satin glove, squeezing him in just the right places.

"Don't touch me." she said when she road him with an horrific slowness he thought he might go insane.

She was kissing him that same way. Not allowing him to kiss her at all. Her lips suckling on his and taking from him. Her body always taking from him. Taking everything he had.

"Norma!" he panted and felt himself climax so quickly he couldn't stop himself. It was like he was speeding downhill and the breaks were failing. Despite her orders not to touch her, he grabbed ahold of her and thrust harder and harder till he hear her cry out.

~ When the slight embarrassment of her actions had worn off, Norma had quickly showered and redressed in a modest blue house coat. She was a little shy around Alex just now, but when she came back to finish dinner, he seemed in a fantastic mood.

"It's not my birthday is it?" he grinned wrapping his arms around her waist playfully from behind and started kissing her on the neck.

"No!" she giggled and maneuvered away. A blush coming hard on her face at how she had acted.

Alex had taken the pot roast out the oven when the timer went off and had helped himself to the scotch she'd bought him. He looked little tipsy, but was grinning ear to ear.

"Just trying to figure out what that was all about, Mrs. Romero." he said. "Not that I'm complaining."

She bit her lip and looked over her husband with sincere appreciation. Alex had coached Dylan's little league team for the past two years, gone with her to Norman's doctor's appointments to confirm he was autistic. He'd given her a real home to live in, made her his wife and adopted her sons. He'd never been afraid or run away from the fact she had such weighted responsibilities. Not even for a second. In fact, he'd always seemed drawn to her.

"It's funny, you and I." she said happily.

He looked at her curiously and she clarified.

"That we're here and we've made it. That we're happy." she said. "Sometimes I look back on what could have happened if you hadn't pulled Sam over that night. It terrifies me."

Alex seemed too happy to care about the 'what if's' of life.

"We **are** happy." he said. That's enough for me."

"Alex, I want to have a baby." she said suddenly.


	107. Chapter 107

107.

~ Admittedly, Alex was feeling a little tipsy just now and he was sure he'd misheard.

"What?" he asked. A large grin still plastered on his face.

' _God, how did I get so lucky?_ ' he thought to himself when she smiled her flawless smile and her eyes sparkled brightly back at him.

"Well." she said calmly. "I was thinking we should have a baby. It feels like now is the right time maybe."

Now Alex knew he'd heard correctly and felt the fuzz in his brain start to shake off. Felt the numbing effect of booze and good sex rattle off and reality wash over him like ice water.

"Norma, what are you talking about?" he demanded. "We agreed… we had a very specific-"

"I know." she said quickly and turned away from him. Her always busy hands going to her perfectly cooked pot roast and starting to cut away the strings that held it together.

He looked from the roast who's aroma was filling up the house to the scotch he'd so eagerly drank and the ice-cream stowed in the freezer. Clues were snapping into place like puzzle pieces.

"That's why you did all this?" he asked suspiciously.

"Did all what?" she asked. He voice innocent and carefully guarded as she cut up the meat with a large kitchen knife.

"My favorite dinner, my favorite ice-cream, kinky sex in the living room…" he waved a hand at the bottle. "You don't even allow liquor in the house, Norma. Sam was such a violent alcoholic. You told me you didn't even want me to keep a liquor cabinet because of the bad memories."

"One time wouldn't hurt and the boys aren't home." Norma said defensively.

"All this to was meant to butter me up?" he asked. "So I wouldn't be mad you changed your mind about going back to school? About having babies?"

"I didn't change my mind about school!" Norma argued and turned around.

"So you want to do both?" Alex asked and he watched her beautiful face falter slightly.

"I…" she sighed.

He let her linger there for a moment before answering for her.

"You've been taking care of Renee's boys. It's reminding you-"

"I don't have baby fever, Alex!" Norma said harshly.

Alex felt a delightful rush of excitement when his tiger was angry like this. Especially when she was a little mad at him. How her eye radiated with electricity and how Norma was never afraid. Romero was used to killers weeping in front of him. Of drug dealers flinching away when he entered the room. There was something enticing about this woman who was never afraid to stand up to him.

A goddess before a mortal man. What fearsomely beautiful children they would make.

"I just…" she sighed. "I… you're such a good father to Norman and Dylan. It's not fair you're not a real father."

"You don't think I'm a real father?" he asked feeling painfully insulted. He'd always felt like Dylan's father since before he and Norma were even a couple. Norman had taken more convincing but the bond was starting to progress.

"I didn't mean that." Norma said quickly. "I mean that you deserve a child of your own."

"I have two already." he argued harshly.

Norma looked properly ashamed of herself.

"Just admit that you want a baby because it's what you want." Alex demanded. "I'm satisfied with waiting. You know that."

"Fine." she said. "It's what I want. I want a baby now. My body is telling me now is the right time."

"Well, you're still on the pill." he shrugged and looked at her suspiciously. "Aren't you?"

"Of course I am." she sighed. "I wouldn't do that."

Alex wasn't sure he believed her and knew that he couldn't hide his expression from his wife.

"I wouldn't!" she insisted and he could see she was telling the truth.

His next words were calmer than he actually felt. He wasn't sure what he felt like. He finally knew who Norma reminded him of in the wine colored dress with her game of seduction and her obvious manipulation. It was something Rebecca would do and he didn't like seeing it in his wife. The woman he married was honest, sometimes brutally so, and didn't play games. The woman he'd married was a lover and not a temptress. He'd always been satisfied sexually and emotionally with Norma and not left frustrated and annoyed like he'd been with Rebecca.

"I'm going to go take a shower." he said. "Sober up a little. Come back, and we can have dinner."

His wife's face fell a little as if heartbroken.

He was about to turn to go to their room when he pulled her into a hug.  
"I love you." he whispered and felt her arms wrap around his neck. "Very much. But don't that again. Don't try to manipulate me again."

He felt her nod and her voice sounded like she was about to cry.

"I just love you so much, Alex." she whispered.

~ In their bathroom, in Norma's personal drawer next to the make up and other hygiene products she applied daily Alex found her prescribed birth control. He'd seen her take it every morning like clock work before she washed her face and put her make up on. He'd seen it so often he wondered if he'd ever stopped seeing it. If she'd stopped taking it and he'd failed to noticed.

He opened the compact looking device and found the correlating dates. The correct pills matching up to the correct dates were missing. She hadn't skipped or stopped taking her contraceptive.

He felt bad for doubting if she was telling him the truth. He didn't like the feeling that she had been anything less than the woman he'd married tonight.

~ To his credit, Alex didn't discuss her misbehavior when he came back to eat. Instead, it was as if nothing had happened at all and normality had descended on them again.

"I'll pick up Dylan tomorrow afternoon from his camping trip." Alex sighed after enjoying his food. Norma had always prided herself on keeping her husband well satisfied with her cooking. A thing that seemed to keep the peace in a house full of growing men.

"I've missed him." she admitted. "Can't believe he's been away a whole week. He's never been away from home this long. Norman told me yesterday he missed him to."

"This is good for Dylan." Alex insisted. "He'll be more independent. Can't have the boys clinging to you their whole lives."

"I know." Norma sighed. They'd had this discussion before. "But it's scary to think he's out their in the woods in a tent and sleeping on the ground."

"He's literally an hours drive, Norma." Alex grinned. "I did it when I was his age and I loved it."

"You were also hunting deer and wild turkey with a Simon and Dylan isn't going to do that." Norma said.  
"Well, not with Simon he isn't." Alex sighed.  
"You know what I mean."

"He needs to learn to use a gun, Norma. I mean eventually, he needs to learn to use a gun."

"No, he doesn't. I don't like guns and I don't want you teaching the boys to shoot, Alex. I already know you taught Dylan some things."

"Some things he needs to know. Its' like sex, Norma."

"No, it's not!" Norma gasped but she was smiling.

"Probably shouldn't tell you this, but Dylan said he wants to be a cop when he grows up. He showed me this thing he made in school about what he wants to do and he says he wants to be like his dad." Alex told her smugly.

Norma had seen Dylan's school project and hadn't been amused. She wanted her son to be a doctor. He was already in the gifted program at the elementary school and she felt relieved that he was so smart. That none of her fears, with Caleb as his father, had caused him to suffer any mental handicaps.  
"I saw that. Maybe he'll change his mind when he gets older." she said smoothly. "Besides, I think you glamorize being a Sheriff too much. He thinks you're practically Superman."

"I notice you don't complain, Mrs. Romero." Alex told her with that same smug expression.

"I complain plenty, Sheriff." she said just as tartly. "Didn't we just have a discussion about how I'm not getting what I want?"

Like a switch had been flipped, Alex stood.

"Never get what you want?" he muttered heatedly and pulled her to standing before lifting her up in his arms.

Norma tried to protest but her words seemed to have become lost again. For lack of any viable response, and needing someway to show her defiance to him, she kicked the table so that her empty glass of water fell to the floor and smashed into countless shards.

"Never get what you want, Mrs Romero?" he challenged and she could smell the scotch that still lingered heavily on him. The warmth of his breath tickling her neck and making her feel giddy with anticipation.

His arms were strong and held her body close to his, she could only wrap her arms around his neck tightly as he carried her to their bedroom. Her heart beating wildly with excitement that he would take her twice in one night.

"Who's Dylan's father?" Alex demanded in a throaty whisper when he held her over their bed.

Norma, her center of gravity thrown off at being at such a different altitude now, couldn't think for a moment.

"Dylan?" she questioned.  
"Who's his father?" Alex demanded hotly as if she was under interrogation.

"You are!" she whimpered helplessly and he allowed her to slide down out of his arms and safely onto their bed.  
"Who's Norman's father?" he questioned before kissing her sweetly on the lips and unfastening her robe.

"You are." she whispered softly.

"That's right." he said harshly. "I am. I'm their father. Those are my boys. They have my last name and everything, Norma. Don't ever say I don't have a child of my own."

"I want a little girl, Alex." Norma cried before she crumbled under their collective passion.

Alex, unable to stop himself, gave into her every demand. It was as if their clothing melted off and he penetrated her without regard for foreplay or any of the other games they had enjoyed that night. Alex hadn't even bothered to shut the bedroom door.

~ "You need to drink some water." Alex prompted a few hours later when Norma wasn't sure if she could walk or not. Her legs felt like jelly and she was thankful that her husband was taking care of her.

She rolled over and saw the glass of water and that he'd even delivered her a small bowl of ice-cream with a freshly toasted waffle on the side.

"Oh, honey, you made us a midnight snack." she grinned happily.

"The least I could do." he grinned shyly. "I also put the leftovers away, seeing as you were a little indisposed."

Norma maneuvered herself into a sitting position as they ate ice-cream in bed together. Normally, she never allowed food to be consumed in the bedrooms, but she was feeling too good right now to care.

"This has been a good day." Alex said finally.

"I bet it has." Norma laughed.

"You know I'm not opposed to having a baby, Norma, you know that." he said. "I just…"

"What?"

"I think we should have talked about it honestly. I don't like being manipulated. Don't do it again. Okay?" he asked.

Norma pretended to be shocked.

"Alex, I don't know what you're talking about. I was just bringing up the fact that I wanted a baby soon. Not right now. I'm not looking to get pregnant tonight. I did all this because the boys aren't home and I wanted to be a little naughty with you." she grinned maliciously.

She enjoyed the perplexed look on his face.

"It's true." she insisted. "You're always so polite, Sheriff. I have fantasies about having sex in the middle of the day in different places of the house. It was pretty hot when we did it on the kitchen table that one time."

"Yeah it was." he admitted. Still looking perplexed.

"We need to start doing that again." she told him with a knowing smile.

She watched Alex's own smile slowly appear. Those barriers slowly crumble and her happy husband come out again.

"Happy to oblige, Mrs. Romero." he said. His voice wavering a little.

"Thank you, Sheriff." she said smugly.

She savored the last bite of ice-cream. A sort of victory.

"But I still want a baby soon." she said sweetly. "Very soon. A little girl."

"I was thinking another boy." he said. "A whole pack of boys running around-"

"No. Alex that's not even funny." she interrupted.

"Simon had five brothers growing up." Alex told her wrapping a possessive hand over her abdomen. "Five brothers and two sisters."

"That was back when big families were normal and his parents probably didn't know what was causing all those babies." Norma snorted.

 **Hope everyone had a great week. I had my first full week at my new job. My hands are tired and required soaking in a contrast tub, but I'm being told I've got a great touch and the clients really love love me. It's very nice to know that I'm skilled enough now to walk into work and with less than a week's training, and excel at it. I've even had people asking me about massage therapy school for their kids. Very cool.**


	108. Chapter 108

108.

~ Dylan looked eagerly for the familiar sight of the black and white SUV. The sheriff's SUV with the prominent K-9 unit on the side meaning that his dad was there to pick him up.

Dylan missed the dog, dry clothing and his bedroom, but most of all, he missed his mother's cooking and a return to the safe and familiar.

It had rained the last day of their camping trip and their troop leaders, older boys who were in high school, had acted like the bad weather was nothing. They were still made to hike and make camp and feed themselves as if the sun was out. No talk of going home was even permitted.

That wasn't even the worst of it, in Dylan's memory. The real reason he hated this camping trip was the boys from the other troops. In his own troop of less than ten boys around his own age, everyone knew he was the sheriff's kid. He wasn't treated special except when they talked about the potential for hunting trips and that surely Dylan's dad would have shown his son how to shoot a gun before any of them.

Dylan hadn't bothered to correct them because he liked the prestige being the son of Sheriff Alex Romero. His dad was always in the paper for some kind of award or because he'd caught a bad guy or helped someone. He'd never thought he'd be picked on because his dad was a cop.

Yet, that was exactly what had happened on the camping trip.

His dad had told him all about the camping trips to these very woods he'd gone on when he was Dylan's age and to listen to the older scout leaders. He knew that other troops would be there and, if he really needed to, his parents could come pick him up. Dylan refused to consider that possibility. Even when a nasty gang of boys began to taunt him for having a dad who was a cop. They didn't like him because their dads or uncles or sometimes their moms, had been arrested and were in jail. Dylan's dad probably had nothing to do with it, but that hardly mattered. They had found someone who had a weakness and like animals on the hunt, they quickly to attacked their wounded prey.

Everyday, Dylan was tripped and pushed on nature hikes. At first by just a few of the boys from the opposing troop, but soon, others joined in to. It was as if it were perfectly acceptable to bully him. Like maybe if the other boys didn't abuse him, they to might find themselves victims of the original perpetrators.

Dylan had never been the victim of bullying before and didn't know how to respond to it. In school and on the playground, he'd always made friends easily and even the older, more aggressive kids didn't seem to mind him. He was sure he'd been unfair to other kids. Mom and Dad had gone to a school meeting last year where Dylan and his friends had taken a friendly game of dodge ball too far and he'd been suspended for two days. Afterwards, he and the other boys were friends again like nothing had happened. They all knew they hadn't meant it.

This was different. This was cold and cruel and spiteful. Dylan was out of his element and not even his friends in his own troop were of much help after a few days. It wasn't long before they to joined in with the other boys. They refused to share a tent with him or help him set up. Sometimes even kicking him when he was nailing a post down or stopping to tie his shoe. He'd became a joke, a target for everyone to play cruel pranks on and the worst part was, it was okay to hurt him. Dylan Romero didn't matter.

He didn't want to cry, but it was a horrible feeling to know you couldn't talk to your friends anymore. That they suddenly hated you and you weren't sure what you had done.

The air even felt different and Dylan's chest hurt. The troop leaders marked in his progress report the Dylan wasn't working well with others. They never seemed to catch the other boys throwing rocks at him or punching him in the small of the back. He wanted desperately to go home, but he refused to cry about it.

When he saw his dad's SUV parked in the high school's parking lot to collect him that morning, he almost cried with relief. He wanted to go back to the farm and never leave again. He wanted to be in his room. He wanted his mom to make him french toast with lots of powered sugar and bacon. He wanted to play with Graceland and the two puppies Rocky and Apollo.

"Hey, Piglet!" one the older boys stood and slapped Dylan on the back of the head. "Your old man's here. I bet you can't wait to get home to your mommy."

Chants of ' _Momma's boy_ ' echoed around the school bus and ended abruptly when the bus stopped and the doors opened up.

Dylan stood up like nothing was wrong. Like he wasn't ready to rip himself apart from the inside out. He hated these boys. He wanted them to suffer more than anything. He wanted giant birds to fly down and peck and claw their eyes out. He wanted their father's to beat them, their mother's to leave them, their wives to cheat on them and their children to loathe them.

He realized he felt slightly sick at the idea of so much hate for them when he took hold of his back pack and walked quickly away from them. He didn't even look back at his troop and made strait for the black and white SUV.

His dad was in uniform and talking to Bobby Martin's dad.

"Hey!" Alex said smiling at him. "What's with the face?"

"Can we go?" Dylan asked quickly and pulled at the passenger side of the SUV.

His dad took a moment to look him over.

"You don't want to say goodbye to your troop?" he asked.

"No." Dylan said harshly when the door didn't open.

"Okay." his dad said slowly. "I'll see ya, Bill. Norma wants this one home right away."

"I wish my wife was that nice. She was glad to have them gone for the week, Sheriff." Mr. Martin laughed when his son Bobby ran up to him all smiles and talking about the trip.

~ Alex knew right away that something wasn't right with Dylan. He didn't have to rely on his cop training to notice the dark circles under his eyes or the disgruntled look on his son's face.

"I take it the camping trip didn't go very well." he said taking the long way home. It wouldn't do for Norma to see Dylan like this. She'd never let him leave the house again.

Dylan refused to say anything and he glared out ahead of him as if the road had done him a personal injustice.

"Yeah, you were away from home for the first time, I get it." Alex offered.

"I don't want to be is scouts anymore." Dylan spat.

Alex nodded and said nothing for a while. He just drove down a mountain road that lead nowhere.

"That bad, huh?" he asked. "Was it the rain? You've been in rain before, Dylan. You can handle it."

"It wasn't the rain." Dylan said.

"The troop leaders-"

"It's your fault." Dylan moaned. "They made fun of me because my dad's a cop. Because he's a sheriff."

Alex wasn't surprised. He'd been expecting this actually. His oldest son got along well with others and seemed to make friends wherever he went. Sure he picked on his little brother sometimes, but Dylan was a good kid who had good social skills. Far better than Alex ever had at his age.

"I see." he said slowly.

"No, you didn't. No one did. They didn't see them throw rocks at me or kick me or anything. My own troop wouldn't even help me. Bobby Martin wouldn't even help me set up camp and its' like it was okay for them to do that to me." Dylan said hotly. Tears of shame coming to his eyes.

"Dylan, my dad was the sheriff here to when I was your age. I got picked on a lot. It's just how things are. If your friends are treating you like that because they want to be apart of the 'in' crowd, then they aren't your friends." he said.

"I wish I hadn't gone on that trip. It was stupid and I hated it!" Dylan cried fiercely. "I hope they die. I hope they die and their families die to!"

"You don't mean that." Alex said calmly.

"Yes, I do. You weren't there. You didn't see how it was."

"You're right, Son. I wasn't there. I can't always be there when you need me and that's unfair and I know it. You have to fight your own battles and it's not always going to be fair. I had a lot of my own so called friends turn against me because my dad arrest their dad. I had people want to get close to me because they thought they could get something out of it. Yes, it hurts. People are ugly and hateful sometimes and they are like that just because they can be. That's the only reason. I'm telling you right now, those boys who picked on you just because your dad's a cop probably have a terrible home life. They probably don't have a dad at home. Or, if they do, he beats them. Or their mom doesn't take care of them like yours does. If the only thing they can think of to bully you for is what your dad does for a living then that's pretty sad." Alex said.

He felt slightly winded from his speech and wondered if the eight year old absorbed any of it. Dylan still looked frustrated and angry.

"Son, you're going to have a long haul in this life if you choose to be bitter about this." Alex sighed. "You can choose to be bitter, or choose to be better. Now, what's it going to be?"

~ Norma was delighted to see her oldest returned to her. Alex had taken the morning off to pick Dylan up solely so he could impress his little friends with his handsome dad who was the local sheriff.

She had been worried when the rain had come and wanted to get him early, but Alex wouldn't let her. She was glad that Dylan hopped out of the SUV looking wrinkled and sleep deprived, but otherwise unscathed.

It was Alex who seemed troubled.

"Is that my laundry to do?" Norma asked taking the filthy camping backpack from Dylan who didn't seem enthused to part with it or keep it.

"Yeah." Dylan said. "Sorry, everything got wet."

"Well, go run a hot bath and I'll make you some french toast." Norma smiled at him. She didn't like how cold his hands felt.

"Okay." Dylan nodded.

"Are you okay, honey?" she asked sensing that her son was a little off.

"I didn't sleep very well because of the rain." Dylan shrugged.

"Oh." Norma said. "Well, after your bath and dinner, maybe we should have an early bedtime."

"Okay." Dylan said soberly.

Norma knew something was wrong then. Dylan fought bedtime lately like the world would end if he fell asleep.

She watched her oldest trudge upstairs in his bare feet and waited until the bathroom door closed before turning to Alex.

"He wants to quit scouts." he husband said.

"Why?" she asked darkly. Dylan had always loved scouting.

"Older boys on the camping trip." Alex shrugged. "Being a little too rough around the edges, Norma. He has to face reality sometime. I know I had to."

"He wasn't hurt? Was he?" Norma asked. Her face crumpling with worry.

"Just his pride I think. He's not used to being on the receiving end of it. It's probably for the best it happened. He can learn from it. Remember how it feels so he won't grow up to be like that." Alex said.

"Hopefully he won't." Norma said angrily. "He could just repress his resentment and become a cereal killer."

"I doubt that." Alex sighed. "Everyone's been a victim of a bully at one time or another."

Norma rolled her eyes. She remembered all too well how other girls picked on her in school for her shabby clothes. How everyday she dreaded going to school because she had no friends and she hated going home because of what Caleb was doing to her. Those days, she hated just being alive.

She wanted better for Dylan.

"He can quit scouts then." she said.  
"No." Alex said quickly. "He's not quitting anything. My son is not a quitter."

"Those boys are little shit heads!" Norma huffed. "I don't want Dylan around them."

"Those boys are the real world, Norma." Alex said. "They are reality and he will have to learn to deal with them the best way he can. For better or worse."

~ Dylan could hear his parents arguing through the old pipes in the upstairs bathroom. The farm house was old and seemed to speak in a language all its' own sometimes. His mom didn't want him to be hurt by the other boys and his dad was saying he had to toughen up. Why couldn't mom leave well enough alone and let him and dad handle this? Mom was always trying to fix things and some things couldn't be fixed by a mom.

"Dylan?" Norman asked and Dylan lifted his head up from the drain of the empty bathtub. From that drain he could hear everything downstairs as if they were in the next room. It was a trick he and Norman had learned and vowed never to tell their parents.

Dylan put a finger to his lips and his brother climbed into the empty tub with him and put his own ear to the drain.

"Mom and dad are fighting?" Norman asked worriedly.

"Not about anything bad." Dylan said. Now that he knew what it was like to be such an outsider, to feel so alone and hurt, he didn't have the heart to say mean things to his brother anymore.

"What about?" Norman asked.

"I want to quit scouts." Dylan whispered.

"Why?"

"Because, the other boys are jerks." Dylan said still annoyed about how he was treated. "They threw rocks at me and kicked me because our dad is better than theirs."

"I'm sorry, Dylan." Norman said with honest sincerity at the fact his brother had been in pain. "I'm sorry those boys hurt you."

"It's okay." Dylan said. "Those guys are losers. They aren't my friends anymore."

They listened to their mother talking loudly about protecting Dylan and their dad calmly making his argument.

"Scram." Dylan said. "I gotta take a bath. We can play with legos together after we dinner."

~ The indoor gun range of White Pine Bay was closed to civilians this time of night but secretly, it was always open to members of the police department. Alex remembered when Simon had taken him here to learn to shoot a rifle and later handguns. A task that his father should have done, but the Old Bear never took much interest in his son after Alex's mother spiraled into her depression.

"This is the first type of hand gun I was taught to use." Alex said spinning out the empty cylinder, loading it, and closing it again.

"You can squeeze the trigger all day long and it won't fire." he said roughly pulling the trigger in a way he knew you should never do. "Until you pull back this hammer."

He looked at his nervous student who refused to touch the weapon.

"I'm going to unload it and let you get a feel for it." he said unloading the 38 special that he normally kept in the hall closet.

Norma nodded and took the gun from him. He'd given her a basic lesson on shooting before and she'd even fired this exact gun at Caleb more than two years ago. She hadn't been able to hit her brother and was surprised she could stomach shooting this weapon again.

"Load it." Alex said calmly. They were the only ones at the shooting range and it was strangely quite in a place meant to be so loud.

She loaded each bullet and Alex had to show her again how to close the cylinder.

"Good. Now, always treat every gun like its' load. No matter what." he said.

"This one is." she said.

"Right." he smiled. "Take aim, feet shoulder with apart. Don't feel bad if you miss, this is your first time shooting anything."

She didn't correct him about that, but spread her feet like she was told and squinted at the target outline that was several yards away.

"Now just squeeze-" Alex said before a loud bang erupted from the weapon and Norma's hand recoiled with a force she wasn't prepared for. Before, when Caleb was going to hurt her and Ed, she hadn't accounted for the adrenaline. Now, when she was calm, she realized the gun was stronger than she was.

"Wow!" Norma exclaimed excitedly and fired again.

"Norma." Alex tried to slow her progress down when she emptied the chamber. She felt an elated rush of pure giddiness at firing this weapon and finally understood how the weak could feel powerful when pointing guns.

"Norma!" Alex shouted when she kept squeezing the trigger and nothing would happen.

"You're out of bullets." her husband sighed in irritation.

"Reload." she said happily.

Alex ignored her and pressed the retrieval of her target.

"Son of… bitch." he said bitterly pulling at the outline of her target. "Can not believe you hit the kill zone on your first try."

Norma wasn't sure what he was talking about was was glad to see her bullets had hit the paper at least.

"Look at that!" she grinned happily. "I hit the guy!"

"Yeah, Norma." Alex said angrily. "You hit the guy. Slow down. You're not supposed to be this good this fast."

"Come on, Sheriff." she said. "This was your idea of date night. I didn't want to come."

Alex grinned and put in a new target.

"You having fun?" he asked refusing to give her back the 38 right away.

"Give me back my gun!" she said petulantly.

Childishly, he held it away from her.

"Told you this was fun. Maybe now you'll let Dylan learn to shoot." he said playfully standing behind her. His hands resting slightly on her hips.

Norma grinned contently at the feel of him kissing the back of her neck.

"Maybe." she said. "I have to admit. This was fun, Alex."

"You're a good shot." he said.

"Maybe its' beginner's luck."

"Speaking of luck." Alex prompted and Norma managed to snatch away the 38 and reload it quickly and with a sudden expertise.

"Think I'll get lucky tonight?" he asked as she took her firing stance and didn't hesitate to fire again. She knew right away she hit her target and it seemed to be a good thing to hit the guy in the chest. Her only way of judging her shooting was how annoyed Alex was getting. Was it possible she was better at this than him?

"Reload." she said again and Alex pulled the target back. She was glad to see almost all her bullets hit the man on or near the chest.

"You know we have deputies on duty now who don't shoot this well, Mrs. Romero." Alex said with disgust.


	109. Chapter 109

109.

~ Norman would always hate the color red. He couldn't explain to his parents why red was so bad, but when that color was around, it was like seeing something he shouldn't see. Something in him told him to look away from it and pretend it wasn't there.

It was like when there was a movie on, and the man and woman were taking their clothes off and Norman saw body parts he normally didn't see. His mother became upset and covered his eyes. Norman didn't understand why and Dylan had laughed. His brother had explained they weren't supposed to see women naked. That seeing women naked was a bad thing. Although Norman didn't think it was that bad.

The color red was like seeing really bad things and he always looked away. When his teacher wore red, it was a bad day at school. He couldn't look at her because the color red was everywhere and it made him panic and feel faint.

His friend Emma didn't wear red anymore because he'd told her they couldn't be friends if she kept wearing red to school. That he didn't like it, or her, when she wore it. She didn't want to upset him, and so she wore the safe colors after that. She wore nice colors like purple and brown and dark green. Norman liked the purple colors on her the best. It was her own pallet of colors that he associated with his friend and he liked to think of her in purple. His baby sitter Gemma Harper said that purple meant royalty and so Emma must be a queen of some kind.

Norman's teacher stopped wearing red to school after the really bad day. The day after Norman had shouted at her and refused to look at her. Then he'd told her about that awful color and how could he be expected to look at her with all that red?

Dylan told him how mom and dad had to go to school for a special meeting after that. Explaining to the teachers about him.

"You can't go crazy on everyone, Norman." his brother said. "It's not normal."

After the meeting, his dad brought pizza home and his mom looked upset.

"Your teacher isn't going to wear red to school anymore." his dad had said. "But why can't you look at it, Norman? It's just a color. It's nothing bad."

"It's bad." Norman shook his head and wouldn't take the first slice of pizza. Mother had to divide up the pizza fairly between everyone. That's how it went. That's how Norman knew it was safe to eat. If mother gave him his food, it was safe to eat. He couldn't just take it himself.

He watched eagerly as mother divided up the slices for everyone and gave Norman his slice.

"Honey, your teacher was upset you yelled at her." she said. "Promise you won't do that again."

Norman didn't understand why his mother was sad.

"You're upset." Norman observed.

"Yes." his mother sighed. "You yelled at Mrs. Hopper and now they want to put you in the special class."

"The special class." Norman mimicked blankly.

"Norman isn't stupid." Dylan said defensively.

"We know." his dad said. "Norman, you can't yell at you teachers. In the real world, you're going to see things and colors you don't like and you can't react that way. No one likes to be yelled at. How would you like it if someone yelled at you?"

Norman thought about it. He pictured himself with perfect clarity being yelled at by the red lady. Only this was a different red lady than his teacher. This one was from a long time ago. The one who wore bright red lipstick and a red coat. He hated that lady.

"No." Norman said.

"Okay." His dad nodded. "So, next time, before you do anything, ask yourself how you would like it if someone did that to you."

~ "That was so embarrassing." Norma groaned and quickly shed off the dress she'd worn to the mandatory school meeting about Norman's behavior in school. She suddenly felt dirty and worthless, even with Sybil's pearls for protection. She could feel the eyes of judgement on her, even hours later. Still sense that Norman's well meaning kindergarten teacher and principal, thought Norman didn't belong in regular school.

It didn't matter that her son could already read at a second grade level and was far more responsible than the other six year olds. They only saw the fact that he didn't like to make eye contact and didn't want to hold hands with the other kids. That he didn't like to be called on in class and would say things that made grown ups uncomfortable.

Norman had the habit of being a little too direct with his innocent questions. A thing that wasn't charming to the adults who didn't know him. When he was genuinely curious about something, he would ask, and didn't understand that it made them uncomfortable to answer.

The most recent case was Norma's trip to the grocery store and Norman had spotted an older man who had trouble walking. Norman had asked the man if he was going to die soon and if so, just how soon?

On any other child his age, such a thing might have been funny, but Norman had been far too serious and it had worried the old man and the younger woman who Norma had assumed was his daughter.

After that, Norma tried to avoid taking Norman with her to the grocery store.

"You know how he feels about colors." Alex said.

"Well, he didn't seem to mind red before we came here. I wonder what changed?" Norma asked brushing her teeth. She was ready to go to bed. Norman didn't seem at all troubled by his outburst in class but it bothered her that her son was already being seen as abnormal.

She wished that she could protect him forever. Already she hated Mrs. Hopper and that stuck up principal.

"I'm not sure." Alex said. "Maybe we should take him back to that specialist in Portland. Anti anxiety medications might help."

"I don't want him drugged, Alex." Norma snapped and slipped on her robe.

She was glad to see her husband was paying attention to her own outburst.

"He's very smart. Maybe I could home school him. We don't need that stupid school anyway." she reasoned.

"Home school him when? In-between your job and your classes?" Alex asked. "No. Norma, he has to live in the real world. The real world is out there and he has to learn to deal with it. You can't shelter him forever and the more you protect him the worse it will be."

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to protect him from being mistreated by a teacher." Norma argued.

"That teacher wasn't mistreating him. She wore a red dress and Norman screamed at her as if she killed someone." Alex said calmly.

Norma felt a tightness in her stomach start to grow larger.

"I know you don't want to admit it, but Norman isn't ever going to be like the other kids. We can provide a safe home for him, but the real world is out there." Alex said.

~ Norman had a present waiting for him on Saturday. This was odd because Saturday was the day his dad took his brother Dylan to baseball practice. They were gone all day and Norman and mother baked together on Saturday.

Saturday was not the day Norman got presents.

Presents were for his birthday, which was in summer and Christmas, which was in winter.

Yet, there was a present for him, wrapped in blue paper with the ends neatly folded and the bow precisely tied. Mother was the only one in the entire house who could have done such a thing and Norman wondered why there was a present for him at all.

"What is it?" Norman asked looking over the box and wondering what was inside.

It was heavy, which was good. Good things were heavy.

"Open it and see." his dad said drinking his coffee and nodding for him to open the paper.

Norman didn't like ripping paper. Especially nice paper. It seemed such rude a thing to do.

"Like I showed you." his mother said and nudged at the corners where she'd carefully taped the ends. "Like they did in the old days to save and re-use the paper."

"Can I keep it?" Norman asked when he'd successfully peeled away the wrapping paper and ribbon without damaging it.

He wanted to remember this day. It wasn't everyday he got a present for no reason and he wanted to remember today.

His mother nodded and his dad told him to open the box.

Norman was excited to see what was inside until he saw the bright red of the toy fire engine inside.

"Norman." his mother said calmly.

"It's bad. I don't like it." he said.

"It's just a toy." he dad said. "It's not a bad thing at all."

"No." Norman said and refused to touch it. It sat lurking in the box like a snake. All that red pooling there, waiting to do something.

"Norman, firefighters are good. They put out fires and save lives." his mother said with a big smile. "They ride around in this big truck because the people will see it and know they're off to fight fires."

His mother took the toy fire engine from the box and placed it on the table.

"Look." she said. "It I made sure it doesn't light up. I know you don't like that. It just has the old siren."

She turned a key on the bottom and a feeble wail sounded from the toy fire truck. Norman watched his mother push the truck across the table to his father who neatly caught it.

"Norman. We need for you to keep this in your room. On your desk." he said.

"No." Norman violently shook his head.

His desk was special. His desk was where he kept his pencil cups full of colored pencils and it was where he did all his coloring, looked at his maps, picture books and reading. It was his safe place.

"Yes." his mother said. "It's just this one thing. Just this one red thing and that will help you not hate red anymore."

"It's bad." Norman said.

"It's not bad. We would never give you anything bad." his mother told him.

Norman fidgeted and couldn't fight this logic. It was true his parents had never given him anything that was bad for him. They gave him everything he needed and wanted including food and the new socks he asked for last week.

His dad was always making sure he had plenty of nice jars to put his collections of rocks and shells for when they went to the bay. Yet, he couldn't sleep knowing that… that _thing_ was sitting on his desk next to the jar of buttons he had been collecting for years now.

"You'll see there's nothing bad about it." his mother said.

She wanted him to look at the firetruck and Norman couldn't.

"No." he said and looked away. If he ignored it, it would vanish and mother wouldn't talk about it anymore. If she saw that it upset him, she would make sure it went away.

His dad took the truck and sat it on the table in front of him. Norman looked away again.

"Norman. Son, we all have to do things we don't like. In a few days, you'll see there's nothing bad about the color red."

Norman whined a little and turned to his mother. She was wearing a nice blue sweater. Not quite the same color blue as the sky, but more like how the sky looked in people's imagination. It was a safe color. A very good color.

"Norman." his mother said. "I want you to take the truck into your room and put it on your desk."

Norman didn't want to touch it. Maybe it was dirty and had contamination on it.

"Please." his mother said and moved the truck closer to him.

The truck wasn't going away and he hated to look at it. He could feel the panic start to rise up when he touched it.

"I hate it." he whimpered.

"I'm sorry you hate it." his mother said softly. "Now, put it on your desk."

~ It had felt like hours had passed getting Norman to comply with their very reasonable demands to put a toy fire truck in his bedroom. The bright red object looking shockingly out of place in a world of greens, browns, kaki and blue.

Norman had a very particular way of organizing his room, which meant his life, and it was far more ascetic that any adult she'd ever known. His collections of random coins, buttons, rocks, shells and other small forgettable items were housed in the old glass pickle jars Alex had found in the barn. Large things that had to be older than both of them, but were very well suited for Norman's needs because he could see the treasures inside. Such things looked beautifully in the large glass jars in his room.

Norman was indifferent to all art work and was amenable to allowing his mother to decorate his room so long as there was nothing red or yellow. Why he disliked yellow, she wasn't sure but it wasn't nearly the problem red seemed to be. It more like yellow was a dirty word. Something tacky and slightly offensive to have around, where as red was forbidden.

So Norma tried to keep his bedroom decor within the guidelines of the required color scheme. It was easier than fighting with her son. Something she was now realizing she might have to do if his autism was going to become worse.

People looking at Norman now would see his condition first and not her son's other gifts. Not his ability to read at a higher level than the other kids. Not his companion for the animals he took perfect care of. Not the fact he was polite to adults. No, they would only see him for his disadvantages and think less of him for it. They would see the way he was starting to hunch his shoulders inward when he was nervous or how he would look away and not want to make eye contact.

Nothing else Norman did would matter because he wouldn't be 'normal'.

"What are you doing up here, Mrs. Romero?" Alex voice asked coming into her small sewing room where she had meant to spend the rest of the day organizing her scrap fabric, yarn and start making the new curtains for the kitchen.

Instead, seeing all of the jars of Norman's treasures, worthless to outsiders sure, had made her retrieve her own little cigar boxes of treasures.

Norma had been siting at her sewing table when Alex found her and hadn't bothered to hid the old photographs of her parents and Caleb that were placed in careful order. She showed him a faded blue ribbon with a highly embroidered lace work in the same of a flower on it.

"I was just looking at my old collection." she sighed. "Seeing all of Norman's collections… I don't know."

"I guess that's where he get's it from." Alex agreed looking at the old fair tickets and tokens from some forgotten carnival game.

"I didn't think it would be so hard." Norma confessed wrapping the blue ribbon around her wrist again. "Convincing Norman to take the fire truck."

"It'll be good for him. We can't shelter him forever." Alex said. "Just like we can't shelter Dylan from the bullies. It's why he had to go back to scouts."

"I know." Norma sighed heavily and felt the keen sense of heart ache. "It's just. I wish I could protect them. Especially Norman. I'm strong enough to protect him. The world is such hard place, Alex. It's not going to be fair to him. What kind of a life is he going to have if he can't even look at basic colors?"

"He's a long way from being an adult, Norma." Alex said. "One day at a time."

She looked at the blue ribbon.  
"You know, if Sam was alive and saw Norman like this…" she sighed.  
"I know." Alex said

"If my parents had a child like that." she added. Alex didn't have to say anything. He knew enough about her parents to know how vicious and terrible they would have been to Norman over something the child couldn't help.

"What's that?" he asked instead looking at the faded blue ribbon that was wrapped around her hand.

"This was my mothers." Norma smiled softly. "She… um… she told me she wore it once to a dance in high school. That she wore a blue dress."

Norma remembered her mother talking about the dance as a happy memory. How her eyes seemed to spark with life and joy. All too soon fading back into an abyss of sadness when she had to return to present reality and the life she was living in.

"It was the only time I had ever seen her happy." Norma said.

"What was wrong with her?" Alex asked.

"She just wasn't well." Norma said feeling the walls spring up. In truth, she didn't know what was wrong with her mother but was afraid to talk about it. Even with Alex, even now. "We never talked about what was wrong with her. Maybe it was some kind of depression. She was medicated a lot. It seemed like she was always sleeping. She never took care of us. Not like we take care of the boys."  
"Is that why you're the kind of mother you are now?" Alex asked. "The kind of mother who isn't asleep at the wheel?"

She had to smile at the comparison. She had never wanted to be like her mother and was glad she wasn't. She own home, her own life was so vastly different, it wasn't fair to compare the two women.

"My mother was wasn't married to a good man, Alex." she reminded him softly. "Thank you. For helping Norman today. I know it wasn't easy. I know that took a lot of patience."

"No problem, Mrs. Romero." he said. "You know we have the rest of the day off. It'll be a shame to waste it."

Norma grinned at him knowingly.

"Norman's taking care of the rabbits and the puppies and the stupid goat." Alex reminded her gently pulling on her hand as she tried to pretend she wasn't interested.

"Dylan won't be back from little league practice till three." Alex reminded her playfully.

"You're being terrible, Sheriff. I'm starting to think I should have married a nice fireman." she giggled when his hand started to inch up her skirt.

 **There will be more excitement in the next chapter. Think 'Fatal Attraction'.**


	110. Chapter 110

110.

~ Alex wished more than anything, that he'd never met Rebecca Hamilton. He understood why he'd been attracted to her in the first place. She was attractive enough and she'd shown him attention and affection. She'd tolerated his occasional coldness to her with her own indifference. When they'd been together, it had been fun, but Alex knew it wouldn't last.

He'd always been careful about what he would say to her and what he would promise her. In all honesty, when he'd been with her, he never pictured himself ever getting married. His only frame of reference for relationships was his parents marriage, his own briefly lived nuptials and his odd relationship with Rebecca.

She wasn't the kind of woman he wanted to marry. She played too many games with his head. Tried to guilt trip him or make him jealous of the other men she could get. Toyed with his emotions and physical needs like a cat swatting at a dog who it knows won't bite.

Norma had been his salvation. She had no interest in playing games and never pretended to be less than perfectly flawed and vulnerable. So long as he accepted her for all her imperfections, he would have a place in her life.

With Rebecca, Alex would never have a place. He was an occasional pawn to her. Someone to be used, mistreated and made to feel guilty when he moved on.

When Sheriff Romero did move on, Rebecca Hamilton didn't take it well.

"Hello, Sheriff." came an amused cat call from the parking lot.

Alex had been on his way out of the station, his mind on the latest arrests made at the old motel on the high way and he hadn't paid much attention to his surroundings until Graceland gave off a low growl.

He looked up in alarm at seeing Rebecca leaning lazily against his SUV where anyone should see her.

Graceland woofed at her and, cat-like, Rebecca smiled without showing teeth or fear.

Alex looked around the desired parking lot and prayed no one would see them together. The last thing he needed was gossip about him and Rebecca Hamilton getting back to Norma.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded and Graceland let out another low growl.

"How's the bitch?" Rebecca asked with self satisfied grin and nodded to Graceland. Alex knew the word had two meanings and could only guess the other meaning was a slight against his wife. With Rebecca, there were always two faces to everything.

"You need to leave." Alex said feeling that nervousness come up when he was in social situations he couldn't control. That need to stutter when he found he didn't know what the other person's next move was. It was always this way around women. Especially around women he liked. With Norma, he could never think strait at times.

"I just wanted to talk." Rebecca said and moved off his SUV with graceful ease.  
"Shouldn't you be at home with your baby?" Alex accused sharply. He still found it hard to believe she was a mother. Rebecca seemed very uninterested in being a mother.

"She's with a sitter." she said hatefully.

"Well, maybe you should go and spend time with her. Be a mother to your daughter." Alex said and Graceland, sensing her partner was angry, growled.

"Maybe we could spend time with her together." Rebecca said and he could smell the booze on her clothing. Her normally neat appearance had taken a downturn the past couple of years and she'd dressed rather slovenly.

Alex thought he'd misheard.  
"Why would we do that?" he asked.

Rebecca grinned and Alex was once more reminded of an evil house cat.

"Come on, Alex. We had some good times. You have to be bored at home. That lonely farm with just your wife and the two boys for company. You could spend time with me. You know I'd be discreet. Just like in the old days." she purred.  
"I'm sure your husband would love that." Alex huffed and pushed her aside with a little too much force.

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't care!" Rebecca suddenly shouted. "He's too busy with his own affairs."

Alex ignored her and felt his skin crawl with the memory of how his body used to lust after this same woman. He climbed into the cab of his SUV after securing Graceland in the back.

"You know, I wouldn't be your wife for anything, Alex." Rebecca said spitefully. She'd come so close to his window that he actually felt a little afraid of her. "Soon enough, she's going to realize you're not a good husband and you'll get tired of playing daddy to two kids that aren't even yours. One of them so stupid he can't even make it through kindergarten!"

Alex felt hate so raw bubble up in him he wanted more than anything to shoot her in the face. His mind working quickly if there would be any witnesses to the crime in this parking lot.

Instead, he started the ignition and put the SUV in reverse. It was late, and Norma and the boys were at home waiting for him.

~ It was twilight before he got home and found the house in its' normal state of beautiful chaos. Dinner was still in progress and from the smell of it, Norma was experimenting with Italian cuisine. Certainly not her strong suit, but Dylan liked pasta and Alex would eat anything she cooked. It was only Norman who was the fussy eater of the family. He had a very select set of comfort foods he wanted and was unwilling to try new things.

Alex peeked in the oven and saw what looked like homemade lasagna cooking. It smelled nice and he could hear the boys shouts and running around upstairs. The floors from above him creaking and the echo of their footfalls could plainly be heard from the kitchen. The old farm house was always good about talking to the family and Alex could actually tell from where he was standing which was Dylan and which was Norman. They seemed to be playing some kind of chasing game.

Alex could hear the washing machine and dryer lid slamming shut and guessed his wife was doing a load of laundry. With the two boys and themselves, the laundry never ended. Ever.

"Alex?" Norma called out when he wandered into the nicely sized laundry room and spotted his wife. She was quickly folding Dylan's little league uniform and he took a moment to admire the elegant shape of her body in a simple cotton dress. How it fell modestly to the knee and yet, teasingly, he could see the sharp black line of her stocking.

His wife occasionally wore the type of stockings that were so old fashioned that they required a special kind of undergarment. It was something he didn't understand and barely knew how to work, but was in love with all the same.

Maybe because he knew that she was wearing fancy underwear under such a simple and modest dress, that his heart started to race a little. Surely, surely everyone had seen she didn't wear normal pantyhose to her job at City Hall. They must have seen that tell-tell line in the back of her stockings and must have known the Sheriff's wife wore the underwear of a burlesque dancer.

When he didn't answer her, his focus purely on wondering if she'd bothered to ware panties today and what color they would be, she turned around.

"Did you just get home?" Norma asked with perfect innocence. As if she wasn't teasing him just now.

Alex didn't answer and instead, closed the door to the laundry room.

"Alex?" Norma asked her eyes going slightly wide when he pulled her hips to him.

Without explaining himself, without kissing her or even asking permission to take his privilege, he pulled up her sweetly modest dress to run a hand over the lace of her underwear.

"Alex, what you doing? The boys are right upstairs!" she whispered in a near giddy panic.

He didn't care what the boys heard or saw, but delighted in the fact he could feel the soft silk of her stockings meeting harsh lace and then the metal clasp of whatever it was called that held them up.

Such a medieval design was purely for male enjoyment and had to be uncomfortable for her to endure all day. Meaning she wanted him to see her in this.

"Alex!" Norma hisses and tried to shoo his hands away from traveling up her skirt where he was disappointed to find she'd worn panties today.

"You wore panties today, Mrs. Romero." he said coldly. It was as though he'd caught her in the act of a crime.

"Alex." she said calmly. "The boys are right upstairs. They'll see!"

He didn't listen and instead lifted her easily on top of the dryer. He quickly pushed up her skirt again and unhooked the fastening that had her stockings in place.

"You know better than to wear this." he accused running a hand over the scrap lace panties that perfectly matched the lingerie she'd only worn for him a few times. The panties were hardly more than lace over the most discreet parts and should a gust of wind have blown her skirt up, she might as well have worn nothing.

"I had to do laundry, sheriff." Norma gasped weakly as he slipped a finger inside her panties and felt her spasm softly.

"That's no excuse, Mrs. Romero." he said. "You know what this does to me."  
"Alex, after dinner." she promised and tired to climb down off the dryer.

"You're the one who wanted more spontaneity." he reminded her before rudely defrocking her of protective clothing and running a hand between her legs.

"Alex." she whimpered again. "What if the boys come downstairs?"

"We'll be quick." he promised.

"You're never quick!" she accused when he started to taste the salty sweetness between her legs.

She instantly bucked against him and whispered for him to stop. His hands clamping around her legs and hips till she was forced to be still for him. His wife trying to suppress a moan of pleasure as he tickled and tormented her.

"Come here." he ordered and unzipped his pants. His member was already aroused by the mere promise of her in revealing lace without panties, that it was nothing at all to slip inside once she was properly aroused and ready.

The noise of the washer and dryer helped to disguise her cries when he thrusted angrily into her as if she were bing punished.

"All this time, I thought you were so ladylike, Mrs. Romero." he grinned and enjoyed the feel of being inside her. "Then I come in and see you have such a kinky side."

"I promise not to do it again, Sheriff." she pleaded with a playful smile.

This back and forth aroused him even further and he felt himself release from the excitement of it. His hands pulling so hard on the lace of her expensive underthings, he was afraid he might rip them.

"I won't wear the garter belt to work anymore, Sheriff." she whispered when he finally calmed down and she slipped away from him before he could catch her. She smoothed down her dress and didn't bother to put her panties back on. Leaving her husband to collect himself and her disregarded lace on the floor.

Instead, she opened the laundry room door and went to check on dinner as if nothing had happened.

Alex quickly pocketed the sheer lacy panties only after he'd managed to control himself. The idea of his wife walking around the house and having dinner without them on now was an even bigger turn on.

~ It was Graceland's barking that woke Norma first.

She'd always trusted the dog ever since she'd alerted her to Dylan falling into the bay in the early days of her relationship with Alex. Back when she'd been so carefully guarded of her heart, yet desperately enchanted by him all the same.

She'd been dreaming she was back on the bay on that large boat and Dylan was still a young child and Alex was looking at her with such tenderness. It was like he was afraid to touch her, yet so afraid to let her go. It was a look that terrified and thrilled her all at once because there were times when he still looked at her that way. Like he was still so infatuated with her.

Norma sat bolt upright in bed when the dog barked loudly and growled. The constant rain outside made for a hypnotic effect around the farm house. Their isolation making them feel all alone and in a world of deep slumber at night.

"Alex?" Norma nudged the Sheriff awake who could sleep like the dead when it was raining.

"What?" Romero asked and rolled over. He'd been happily fed and satisfied in other areas that night and it was nearly impossible to wake him up now.

"Alex, I think there's someone outside. The dog is barking." Norma said and shoved him harder.

Alex opened his eyes and peered into the darkness around him.

Graceland gave out a savage procession of barking and Norma heard the creak of floorboards from upstairs meaning the boys were woken by the dog.

"Stay inside." Alex ordered and jumped out of bed.  
"Alex!" Norma hissed when he pulled out his service revolver from on top of the antique wardrobe.

"Keep the boys inside." he said harshly and vanished into the darkness.

"Mom?" Dylan called out and Norma left the security of her bed to find Dylan on top of the stairs just as Alex was opening the front door. Graceland bolting outside into the rain at whatever menace was there that the rest of them couldn't see.

"Go back to your room." Norma ordered.

"What's wrong with Graceland?" Dylan asked without moving.  
"I said go back to your room." Norma said. "Do it now or you're grounded."

Dylan hesitated on the top step and waited for his mother to threaten him again.

"I'm not going to tell you again and when your father-" Norma started to say before her oldest scampered back to his room and she could hear him shut the door. That was all it seemed to take to make Dylan comply. Telling Alex about bad behavior.

Norma waited anxiously for Alex to come back and when he did, he was soaking wet.

"Graceland is in the barn." he explained. "Where are the boys?"

"In their rooms." she said. "Alex what was it? It wasn't a bear was it?"

She'd never been the same since she'd seen that bear after all the flooding and didn't care about the electric fence Alex had put up around the property to ward them off.

"No." he shook his head. "It was defiantly human."

He nodded for her to follow him and she put on her rain boots and grabbed an umbrella.

~ The old barn had always smelled the same during a rain storm. Ever since Alex was a child. Always the smell of wet wood, gasoline and oil from the cars and the various other odors it had absorbed over the decades.

Lately it had started to smell more like a barn because Norman was keeping his rabbits and the goat here when the weather was fair.

"What?" Norma asked following him into the back of the barn where he'd discovered the problem.

Graceland was sitting outside of the goats pen and her ears twitched when she heard them coming, but didn't turn around.

"Whoever did this, did it to the rabbits to." Alex said turning on the barn lights and revealing the goat had its' throat slit.

Norma looked in horror at the amount of red blood that was everywhere.

"Rocky and Apollo?" she asked.

"They were in the greenhouse. I checked. They're fine." Alex said.

He glanced over at Norman's rabbits. Whoever broke into their barn had cut their throats out to. The red blood casting a sharp contrast over the white of their fur. It was almost beautiful if it hand't been so horrible.

"Norman." she groaned.

"Go back into the house. I'll get the hose and wash all this down." Alex said.  
"He can't see this blood." She breathed.

"Just go back into the house, Norma."

She ignored him, as she was always liable to do, and pulled a large lawn and leaf bag from the nearby shelves.

"Where are the work gloves?" she asked.

~It hardly took an hour to put the bodies of Norman's rabbits and goat into the bag and wash down all the blood in the pen and hutch.

"What do we tell him?" Norma asked. "Some wild animal got into the barn?"

"Maybe." Alex said.

"Opened the hutch and killed the rabbits?" she asked.

"He's young." Alex said and tossed the rest of the bloodied hay in the bag. "He'll believe it."

"Norman is so sensitive. He'll never get over this. Maybe it was a mistake to let him have pets." she sighed.

Alex said nothing.

"Who would do this?" she asked at last. "Who would do something so cruel?"

 **The laundry room scene was a fan request and they wanted it to mimic the scene from "Running Scared". Another Vera movie. Norma is a classy lady (only slightly naughty) and I wanted to keep it that way while having her husband want her. I didn't like the idea of the thong showing and had to rework it so that Alex would know she wore sexy underwear especially for him and no one else would have seen.**

 **If you have any fan requests, please give me a shout out. I'd love to work it in as best I can.**


	111. Chapter 111

111.

~ Dylan had understood something was wrong when his parents sat down with both him and Norman for breakfast that morning.

Normally, their mother was busy with getting them ready for school and their dad was running late for work. He'd always find time to kiss her goodbye though. They would kiss and giggle together as if they had all the time in the world. Dylan would look away but Norman would stare with a certain sense of curiosity. He'd even asked his older brother once if they held their breath while kissing and was worried about it.

This morning was different. Mom had taken the time to make french toast and let Dylan put on his own powered sugar, something she never did, and it seemed a little strange and forbidding that their parents sat at the table with them. Normally the adults only joined them for dinner and their mother was terrifically efficient about getting the children fed first.

"Boys." their dad said after they had eaten.

Dylan stiffened and prepared for the worst. Something in the back of his mind told him a terrible thing was on the way. Like when Sam was mean to his mom, or all those times they would have to move when he was little.

Was it possible that mom and dad were getting a divorce? That they would have to leave the farm house? Where would they go? Would they never see their dad again? Dylan knew he wasn't his real father of course, but he had no comparison for a father other than Sheriff Alex Romero. Sam Bates had never shown him the slightest interest except to yell or hit him. He'd shown even less interest in Norman.

So, just as his mother was prone to do, Dylan steeled himself for the worse to happen. Knowing full well his happy existence here was bound to come to an end eventually. It's just how things went. All good things must come to an end.

"I want you to stay out of the barn for the next few days. A wild dog burrowed under one of the rotted walls last night." their dad explained and looked at Norman nervously.

"A dog?" Norman asked as if the word was alien to him.

Dylan's younger brother looked at Graceland who was eagerly looking at their mother in expectation of bacon that morning.

"A bad dog, son." their father said soberly. "I think Graceland heard it even with the storm and thats why she was barking."

"Will the dog come back?" Norman asked hopefully and Dylan sensed there was more to this dog story than they were telling them.

"Norman, sweetheart." their mother sighed and made Norman look at her. "I'm sorry but the dog attacked your goat and your rabbits last night."

"What does that mean?" Norman asked and started breathing hard. His eyes becoming hard and almost glassed over. Dylan noticed the color of them changed into a frightening deeper blue. Like the color of the ocean. The kind of water so dark and mysterious, you could drown in.

"The dog killed Norman's rabbits and goat?" Dylan asked.

"Yes." their mother said calmly.

Dylan looked at Norman who's eyes had gone wide.

"Norman, do you understand?" their dad asked. "That your goat and rabbits are dead? Your mother and I buried them in the woods so you wouldn't have to see. When you go into the barn in a few days, they won't be there."

"Norman?" their mother asked worriedly.

"My rabbits… my goat…" Norman said slowly. His voice shaking. "They went into the ground like Simon. It's just their shells. Their sprits are in heaven with Simon and his wife Ellie."

"That's right." their mother said and Dylan saw the sympathetic look flight over her face.

"I don't like that." Norman said. "I don't like that."

"We don't like it either, Norman." their dad said in a sober tone that cut of Norman's need to repeat his need to repeat things three times. "Bad things happen sometimes and this was no one's fault.

"How did the dog get the rabbits in their hutch?" Dylan asked suddenly. He was picturing the well built and very sturdy rabbit hutch that could only be open by a front and top door. He's remembered Graceland wanting to get the rabbits once and the large dog couldn't open the hutch doors.

"Dylan, why don't you get dressed." their dad said for an answer.

~ "If you know who did this… tell me." Norma said rinsing off the breakfast dishes before loading them in the dishwasher.

"I'll take care of it." Alex said darkly.

"You'll take care of it?" she accused and they stopped and listened to the sounds of the boys getting dressed for school upstairs. "What does that mean?"

"It means, I'll take care of it, Mrs. Romero." Alex said with a certain finality that meant he wanted this discussion over. "Don't worry."

"That was really hard for Norman. What are you going to do?" she asked. Alex was pulling on his coat and preparing to go to work.

"Pease stop asking me that." he said feeling anxious to leave the comforts of their home. He wanted to return to her with news that the menace to their children was over for good.

"I need you to trust me." he said.

"I trust you." she sighed. "Just, Alex, please don't do anything your father would do."

~ "I'm here to see Rebecca Hamilton- White." Sheriff Romero said harshly to the woman at the front desk of the town's only bank. "She's in there?"

He pointed to the back office where he could see her outline behind the frosted glass.

"Sheriff?" the woman at the front desk called. "Do you have an appointment to talk to her? You can't go in there!"

"Call someone." Alex said smartly back to the woman at the front desk. He wasn't sheriff for nothing and he wasn't above abusing his power of authority today.

Rebecca was siting primly at her desk wearing the kind of red dress that would have made Norman run away from her. She was on the phone and glance up at Alex as if happy to see him.

Since her return to White Pine Bay she had to work her way back up in the banking world and it hadn't been easy. Luckily. Rebecca was smart and very talented at her job. Although, if the rumors were to be believed, no one at the bank enjoyed being around her.

"Well, yes we can get those bonds transferred over-" she was saying before Alex plucked the phone out of her hands and hung it up for her.

"Well, that was rude." she said with an amused smile. "That was Nick Ford, if must you know."

"He'll call back. We need to talk." Alex said.

"You know, when I pictured you and I meeting up, it was a little less intense, Alex." Rebecca said with a wide grin. "Also with a little less clothing."

"This isn't a social visit." Alex said. "I know it was you last night."

"Last night?" Rebecca asked innocently.

"You came onto my property? Broke into the barn and killed my son's pets. I know you did it."

"Killed pets? Oh, please. You're really reaching now, Sheriff." Rebecca said but avoided looking at him.

"You upset my wife and my two sons. Not to mention the sheer maliciousness of killing innocent animals." Alex said.

"I was at the bar till pretty late last night. You can ask Doug." she sighed.

"I don't believe anything that drunk of a husband of yours says."

"Fine. Talk to that Shaw girl I have babysitting Evelyn." Rebecca said. "I was home around midnight. Right before the storm hit."

Alex glared at her.

"I just wanted to get into your head yesterday, Alex." Rebecca admitted playfully. "Remind you of what we once had and that we could have it again. If you wanted it."

"I don't want it." Alex interrupted.

"Because I came to my senses and realized you settled on Norma Bates and I can still have my own life. You're the one saddled with a wife and two kids." she said smugly. "Good luck with that. And don't bother me at work again or I'll have to file a restraining order against you. Seeing as how you're being so abusive to me in a public place just now."

She had started talking in a teasing voice that Alex found infuriating.

"You know why I married Norma Bates so quickly?" Alex said feeling the need to wound this woman just as badly as she had wounded Norman.

Rebecca pretended not to be interested. Her focus on the computer, but he could tell she was just about to break a leg with wanting to hear the rest.

"It's because she's not a user." Alex clarified cheerfully. "She's not vicious and vindictive. She's not hateful and doesn't get her thrills from hurting people like you do. Doug White is a sorry excuse for a man and everyone knows he's screwing around on you because he doesn't love you, Rebecca. No man could really love you. You don't even love yourself."

He waited and was satisfied at seeing Rebecca's eyes widen slightly but her gaze stayed away from him.

"Your daughter won't love you when she gets older. Thats one thing my wife will never run out of. People loving her. Our sons love her more than anything in the world and her husband loves her. She has the life you'll never have, Rebecca. Because you're too selfish and resentful."

"Leave." she hissed dangerously.

"In a minute." Alex said.

"I don't want Norma Bates' life." Rebecca said hatefully.  
"Norma Romero." Alex clarified.

"We both know it won't last." she shrugged. "I mean, the two of you are stuck with that retard kid Norman forever. I heard about what happened and the whole town loves to gossip about how the Sheriff is rising a little boy who screams at his teacher and can't look people in the eye. I bet you long for the days when they would lock people like that up in asylums."

"No, but I long for the days when we could burn a woman like you at the stake." Alex said before he could stop himself. It was something Norma would say and Rebecca looked highly insulted.

"Enjoy your misery. Stay away from my wife and family. I think I made myself clear." Alex said standing up. "It's not my fault Bob Paris left you."

~ "I think if you wanted to see you rabbits and your goat in heaven, Norman, they'll be there." Ed Warren said gently.

Norma smoothed her youngest son's hair away from his face and watched him try to make sense of what had happened. She'd brought Norman with her to the Warren's house to check on Renee and the babies only to find the house in good order and Ed at home for once.

The Warrens had made the rational decision to hire a nanny. An older, grandmotherly type who wasn't afraid to boss her employers around as if she were the matriarch the house. Yet, the results spoke for themselves, the children were tended to, laundry and cooking was done. Renee seemed well reseted and Ed was finally himself.

"What about the dog that killed them?" Norman asked.  
"That dog won't be there if you don't want him there." Ed said. "I'm sorry your rabbits and goat died. I know you took care of them. You're a very good shepherd and shepherds have a special place in God's kingdom."

"Really?" Norman asked with new intrigue and fear. "I don't want to be in a different part of heaven from Mother."

Norma grinned.

"I don't blame you. You won't be." Ed said with a wide smile at Norma.

~ The two of them watched Norman play outside on a swing-set that no doubt had been used by Ed as a boy. The kitchen of the old queen Anne house needed an update to bring it into this century, but it was rustic and charming in it's way.

Norma got the impression Ed thought it sacrilegious to change too much of his Aunts home. Certain things about the house still seemed to be very museum like and his Aunt's memory still hovered here like a ghost.

"Where's Renee and the babies?" Norma asked.

"She and Pricilla have gone to the grocery store." Ed sighed. "That nanny was a God send. Worth every penny we pay her. Renee can finally sleep and the house doesn't look like a hurricane went through it."

"I'm glad." Norma nodded.

"Tell me more about this dog that unlocked a rabbit hutch, Norma." Ed said bringing her a cup of coffee.

Norma thought about lying to him but realized she couldn't. Even after all their fights, they were oddly enough, still friends.

"Graceland woke us up last night." she sighed. "Alex found the animals with their throat cut open. Someone came onto the property and killed them."  
"The puppies?" Ed asked.

"The puppies were in the greenhouse and Alex wants them to stay with Tom and Tess for a few days." Norma sighed. "I think it's for the best. Maybe Norman shouldn't keep animals. I mean, animals die, Ed."

"True. We all die, Norma." Ed said.

"You know what I mean. Norman is a sensitive little boy." she explained and they watched him swinging on the swing-set without a care in the world.

"I know. Cody was the same way. I see a lot of my older brother in Norman." Ed said. "But Norman took very good care of his animals and death is a part of life. If he learns about death while he's young, it might not traumatize him too much. You can't shield him forever."

"I guess you heard about what happened with his teacher." Norma sighed. She was slightly embarrassed.

"I did." Ed nodded. "You think you're the only parent in town who's kid did weird things in class?"

He grinned at her and she didn't want to smile back.

"You when I was Norman's age, I couldn't read yet, and I kept wandering into the girls bathroom. I was sent to the principal's office and I was honestly confused because I thought it was so rude all these girls kept walking in on me." Ed said shaking his head.

Norma snorted a giggle.

"It's funny the first time, but the third or fourth time they start sending notes home." Ed smiled. "I suppose your husband never told you about how he got suspended from school for de-pantsing Kyle Freeman in third grade. Would have been alright but Kyle wasn't wearing underwear at the time."

"No!" Norma gasped in shock.

"Yeah. Everyone was little traumatized by it. I think the Old Bear really gave it to him for that." Ed admitted. "I think you should let Norman have rabbits again."

"I'm not sure Alex will let him after what happened." Norma sighed.

"Well, we both know who runs things in that house, don't we Mrs. Romero." Ed said.

 **This isn't over with RATbecca.**


	112. Chapter 112

112.

~ When the seedy bar outside of town burnt to the ground, Sheriff Alex Romero was interrogating three drivers who had been caught trying to run guns to Canada. He'd been there all day since leaving Rebecca at the bank and had missed lunch. In fact, it had taken one of his new deputies to alert him that Doug White's bar, the menace to White Pine Bay, had caught fire around noon and had burned so quickly, the fire department hadn't arrived in time to save it.

"Anyone hurt?" Alex had asked feeling a slight grip of concern that he'd just threatened Rebecca a few hours before her husband's bar burned down.

"No." his female deputy said. She was fresh out of the army and eager to please. "Its' noon and all the local drunks are sleeping it off in lock up or at home. The whole place was empty. The structure is completely gone though."

"Well, that's something." Alex breathed. "Has Doug White or his wife been notified?"

"They're at the scene now." his deputy said.

~ Since the fire was contained, and there was no casualties, there was no need for the sheriff rush to get to the scene. Alex had let the fire department handle it and waited for the inevitable phone call from fire chief Paul Goodspeed.

"Mrs. White seemed to think you were behind this, Alex." Chief Goodspeed said casually. Alex reclined in his office chair and was glad he didn't have to look Goodspeed in the eye. The fire chief was a fearsome creature. Built like a silverback gorilla only uglier. Where he walked, lesser creatures bolted out of his way. He'd been fire chief of White Pine Bay since Alex was a child and even the Old Bear wasn't above taking orders from the likes of Paul Goodspeed in emergencies.

"Is that right?" Alex asked. "Why is that?"

"I hate to ask, Alex. Where were you today?" Goodspeed asked in a rough voice earned from years of smoking. He and Sybil were oddly matched with their smoking voices.

"Here." Alex said curtly. "I was here all day. We'd busted some gun runners and it's been a long process, Chief. I have video evidence if you like. Our mayor found the budget to install cameras all around the station incase of police brutality accusations. I'm sure I'm the star of every scene today."

"You won't mind if I come over and see for myself?" Chief Goodspeed asked.

"I'll tell Clarice to show you anything you want." Alex said.

With the fire chief, especially one like Goodspeed, it was best not to fight him.

"I like Clarice." the chief said mildly. "Why would Rebecca White think you're responsible for her husband's bar burning down, Sheriff?"

Chief Goodspeed had never called Alex by his title in all his life. This was cause for concern.

"I was hoping to keep it quite." Alex admitted. "It's all a bit… well unseemly. But my wife and son were upset."

"What." Demanded Goodspeed

"Last night my son's pet rabbits were killed in their hutch along with a baby goat. The barn was locked up and the animals were killed with a knife. It was very malicious, Chief. I know there are hazards to being a sheriff in a town like this and maybe my son paid the price. But it didn't feel like payback from some punk kids." Romero said bitterly. "Rebecca had stopped me in the parking lot the day before it happened. She… well she came on to me and when I… blew her off she was mad. It's why I think it was her. It's why I went to the bank to speak with her about it this morning."

"And?" Goodspeed demanded.

"I know liars, Chief. I deal with them day in and day out. She was lying to me about having nothing to do with killing my sons animals." Alex admitted.

"Is that why you burned down her husband's barn?"

"Well, that I didn't do." Alex said casually. "We have been looking for ways to close it down. You should see the paper work over here. The mayor has been all over me to find a loophole to get it shut down. Fire or not, George Helden is going to be a happy man today. So will a lot of people with interests in this town."

"Fair enough. I'll be in later to see the security footage, Alex. If your story checks out, you have nothing to worry about. An initial walk through of the place showed evidence of bad wiring. Doug admitted to trying to hook up some neon lights earlier this week that seemed to have shorted out. He had a lot of people pissed at him and his bar, like you said. Menace to the town."

"Well, if there's evidence of arson, you'll be sure to call me, Chief." Alex said.

"I will, but I have a feeling it was Doug White's own negligence. Nothing else. Never called to tell you congratulations on getting married or the election. Your mother would be proud. I see your wife and two step sons at church all the time. Beautiful lady." the fire chief said.

Alex wanted to correct him that they weren't his step sons but didn't. No one corrected Chief Goodspeed.  
"Thank you, Chief." Alex said humbly.

"She's always talking to pastor Warren. He turned out to be a nice young man. I have to say I was worried about him. Always an odd duck. Especially how his aunt was with him. Your father didn't like it." Goodspeed said.

"What didn't he like about her?" Alex asked feeling confused.

He vaguely remembered Ed's Aunt. A strict, older woman who kept her black hair severely combed back like a witch. She even dressed in old timely clothes to. He never remembered her smiling and it was strange that Ed Warren grew up to be so kind hearted and normal after what happened to with his brother, his parents going to prison and his mean looking aunt who never let him play sports.

He wanted Goodspeed to keep talking although the older man wasn't the type to gossip.

"I mean, my dad mentioned it, but it's been so long." Alex offered as an 'IN' to the secretes that this generation kept.

"Just how she kept him inside that mansion all the time. How she never let him out. Ed sister was sent away and never came back. We still don't know the whole story. All the… you know, _oddities_. Your father threatened to take Ed away once. Get Sybil involved if it kept happening. That set the old woman right. She was terrified of being alone and Ed stayed with her right up until she died his senior year of high school." Goodspeed said. "You might have still been in the Marines then, Alex. There was a gas leak in the house. Carbon monoxide poisoning. A neighbor smelled it when he went to the back yard looking for her cat. Ed had to be rushed to the hospital, but the old lady, Laura Warren, was already dead when the ambulance got there."

~ Alex had never heard the story of Laura Warren dying of carbon monoxide poisoning in the large house on Grand Street. She'd been an older woman at the time of her death. At least by Alex standards as a young man of twenty when the thing happened.

Yet, at eighty years old, her last drivers license picture didn't show an old woman at all, just an angry one. Her black hair pulled back tightly as she scowled for the camera. Her high lacy collar and brooch made it look like she belonged to the 1880's and not the 1980's.

She'd been a deacon in the church and from what Alex remembered, his mother didn't care for her. Yet, Ed Warren spoke warmly about his Aunt Laura. How she'd raised him after his parents went to prison.

Still, if Goodspeed was to be believed, and why wouldn't he be, there was a darker side to Ed Warren's childhood he had never shared. Something even darker than Cody's death.

Alex took the time to look over the official reports of Laura Warren's death and saw it was listed as accidental. That, in May of Ed's senior year, just a month shy of graduation, a faulty gas heater had flooded the house with carbon monoxide.

A neighbor, Patricia Hall, had been looking for her cat and smelled the gas coming from the basement. Chief Goodspeed himself had come to the house and rescued the young man but it was far too late for Laura Warren.

Alex read over her obituary and wondered why in May a gas heater was even turned on. Laura Warren had lead her own very sad and lonely life. She'd never married and her older brother was Ed's grandfather. A man who'd died in the second world war. Laura and her brother had even gone to school with Simon before their religious parents pulled them inside the walls of the mansion to start home schooling them. The whole family seemed to fear the influence of the outside world. That wasn't in the obituary, Alex knew that from town lore.

Laura was a life long member of the church but wasn't exactly the pillar of loving Christianity and forgiveness. There were a few police reports of her attacking an unwed couple for what she claimed 'Godless fornication' and the last few reports coming after Ed's brother Cody died.

Alex couldn't make sense of it. His father having hand written these incidents and listing them under the vague title of 'family disputes' between Ed and Laura over the years.

Then there was the issue of the missing sister. A sister Alex couldn't remember and no one in town seemed to have a clue to her whereabouts.

~ Norma had been trying to teach her two boys to love music but it wasn't going well. Dylan wasn't interested and Norman only wanted her to play for him. Neither one of them wanted to learn on their own.

"I know, I know you belong… to some…body new… but tonight… you belong… to me…"

She sang in a high and clear voice as she played. Norman was reading one of his books and Dylan was working on a project for scouts when Alex arrived home.

It had clearly been a long day for her husband and she needed to see him privately anyway.

"Boys, I want you to go wash up for dinner." Norma ordered. "Then, set the table."

"Who are we trying to impress?" Dylan complained when Alex came to sit beside her on the piano bench.

Nevertheless, the two of them scampered away to set the table for dinner as noisily as possible.

"How was your day?" she asked.

"Long." he said. "We caught some gun runners trying to go to Canada."

"Did you talk to whoever killed Norman's rabbits?" Norma asked bravely.

Her husband had clasped her hand in his. A thing he was fond of doing whenever he wanted to feel tethered to this world.

"Yeah, it's taken car of." he said effortlessly without looking at her.

She felt her pulse quicken. Saw the contented smile on his face.

' _He's happy. Don't mess it up_.' she told herself.

"Did you burn down that bar?" she asked.

Alex sat up strait and tried to look at her. His eyes failing to meet hers and quickly falling away. Her stoic Sheriff had come home instead of her husband.

"I heard it on the radio. On my way home. Why? Why'd you do it?" she asked.

Now, he looked at her and she saw the softness had returned. The man who wasn't just her husband but her lover as well.

"I had no choice." he said. "You saw what happened."

"You'll get caught." she whispered. Her heart racing at how sexy it was that he had taken such radical vengeance on the person who had hurt their son.

"No, I won't." Alex said with a wry smile. "I was at work all day. There's surveillance footage and everything."

Norma didn't understand and it must have shown on her face.

Alex shrugged.

"What's for dinner, Mrs. Romero?" he asked.


	113. Chapter 113

113.

~ Norma had been busy all week with an ill conceived canning project. Her memories of high school home economics were different and things felt much more haphazard now that her teacher, Mrs. Rosenbaum, wasn't there to correct her at every step.

Suddenly, she feared and entire afternoon of prepping, cleaning and boiling was wasted if the end product would only spoil because of one careless mistake.

She was starting to think making twenty-five cans of strawberry and blackberry preserves had been too much of an undertaking for one afternoon.

Added to all that self induced stress, she spotted Bigfoot walking across her lawn carry Norman on his shoulders.

It was such an odd sight she stopped worrying about water temp and her kitchen timer going off and looked in total shock at the huge figure ambling across her front lawn. It was dressed head to tow in fur of different verities and little Norman was perched on it's shoulders. The small boy seemingly unconcerned with the unusual turn of events.

The memory of the rabbits and baby goat was still fresh in Norma's mind. All that blood was hard to forget.

That, and the bar owned by Rebecca and her husband Douglas White had burnt down a few days ago, was all anyone in town talked about.

It had been chalked up to faulty wiring and fire chief Goodspeed had even fined Douglas White over ten thousand dollars. Since the bar burned down, Norma found herself on high alert for the payback she felt was coming and realized this hulking figure might have come to kidnap her son.

"Norman!" she screamed in alarm as soon as her feet crossed over the threshold and onto the porch.

The large wood ape with Norman on it's shoulders turned around slowly and Norma was surprised to see Chick Hogan under the scruffy beard.

He seemed unconcerned, his normal demeanor, and lazily drew on the pipe he'd been nursing the whole time.

"Chick is here, Mother." Norman said brightly and Norma felt the panic subside a little.

"Didn't mean to scare you, Mrs. Romero." Chick said in that careless way of his that suggested he was sizing her up. Judging her in her normal clothing.

"What are you doing here?" Norma questioned harshly when Dylan came running to Chick's side carrying a handmade toolbox.

"He's here to fix the barn doors. Put locks on them so the bad dogs won't get in again." Norman said.

"We get help!" Dylan chimed in.

"How did you know about that?" Norma questioned suspiciously. Alex had told her Chick was living in a remote part of the woods and didn't have access to a phone.

"Sheriff found me. He told me to come over and do a job. Here I am." Chick said with a shrug that made Norman (still on his shoulders) rise up with him.

Norma heard her kitchen timer ding and felt the anxiety return about her canning processes.

"Well, alright." she said making a mental note to send some preserves home with Chick. "If Alex hired you."

~ "See, in the old days." Chick said fixing a hasp the doors of the barn so that they could be locked easily at night. "Before white men came, this land belong to the natives."

"We learned about them in school." Dylan said helpfully handing the giant the right tool and Norman watched with interest.

"Well, they didn't tell you what I'm about to tell you." Chick said in a low voice that told Dylan not to interrupt again.

The boys were quite. Sensing the gravity of what he was going to say next.

"See, back before the white man came, this land was home to magic. Home to things we still can't understand and explain. Magic that could transform, and do incredible things to a human." the big man said. "If the magic was strong enough, a man could transform himself into an animal. Like a bear or a wolf, and roam around these mountains without anyone knowing he'd once been a man."

A darkness washed over the giant's face that scared Dylan but didn't seem to bother Norman at all.

"His mind was still that of a man, but he had the savage blood lust of an animal. Some people still think that magic is still here. Still here in these mountains, in these very woods. That the sprits of the native peoples are roaming around. Angry ghosts. Not knowing they've passed through the veil of death. They are still here, and with all the violent hunger of starving beasts." Chick snarled.

Dylan felt his blood run cold at the idea of angry ghost animals ripping him apart and he looked at Norman who seemed to be thinking.

"Is that how the dog opened up my rabbit's hutch?" he asked innocently. "A normal dog can't opened my rabbit's hutch. Was it a dog who used to be a person?"

Chick thought for a moment and nodded.

"I think you might be right. I think that's exactly what happened." he said. "But don't worry. I've got a fix for that."

~ "What is it?" Norman demanded and refused to look at the red cloth Chick was wrapping around a pair of old bones.

"What does it look like?" Chick asked.

"He doesn't like red." Dylan told him helpfully.

"He's got good sense then." Chick said. "In many cultures, red is a warning color. It can attract bad energy. But not for us. We know how to use the color red to our advantage. We're going to make it work for us. Protect us."

They watched as Chick dug a deep pit by the entrance to the barn door.

"Why… Why are you putting it here in the ground?" Norman stuttered. "With bones?"

" **Wolf** bones." Chick corrected. "Wolf bones tied with black string, wrapped with red cloth and a hawk's feather. The two animals will watch over this land. Keep you safe. Hawks and wolves work well together."

He placed the red bundle in the ground and covered it over with dirt.

"We put a few more of these around the property, and that will keep the bad ghosts away." Chick said.

"How do we know it will work?" Norman asked skeptically.

"I don't waste time with bullshit." Chick snapped. "You want that ghost dog to come back?"

"No." Norman said unperturbed.

"Good, then you and your brother find a place around the house to bury these other bones and don't let your mother catch you. That woman will scare any ghost away, evil or not." Chick grumbled.

~ Norma wasn't sure what Chick and the boys were doing, prying up the back porch steps, digging with the garden tools and nailing the step back down again. They did the same with the front porch step to. She decided not to ask since the boys were highly occupied and out of her hair for the entire afternoon.

Her preserves had actually turned out nicely and she had made far more than her planned batch of twenty-five jars. She would send a few home with Chick and give some to Ed and Renee as well. As for the rest, everyone better like eating homemade jam everyday for the next few years.

She'd been so preoccupied that she didn't even hear Alex pull up in the driveway.

~ "You've got some good kids, Sheriff." Chick Hogan told Romero when he paid him for the work done on the barn that day as well as the other job earlier that week.  
Alex noticed the boys were dirty and happily playing in the yard. Norma would make them clean up in the greenhouse before letting them back inside.

"Put locks on all the doors like you wanted." Chick said. "If you're paranoid enough, I can hook up a closed circuit tv camera on the property."

"How much will that cost?" Alex asked sarcastically.  
"Not as much as this." Chick said counting his money. "I read in the paper that Goodspeed declared the fire electrical. Blames Douglas White and everything. Told you I was good."

"Yeah." Alex nodded.

"I even knew the right time to do it. No one there and you'd be busy at the station all day."

"I think the less we talk about this the better." Alex sighed.  
"You're right." Chick said quickly. "Douglas White never paid me for repairs I made to his bathroom, so I won't lose sleep over this."

Alex refused to comment. He just kept watching the boys play. His mind going back to when he was their age playing on this very front lawn. Back when he didn't have to worry about such things because his father was 'The Old Bear'. Was that what he was becoming now? He'd always swore he'd never be like his father yet here he was, paying Chick Hogan to burn down his enemies business and make it look like an electrical fire.

"You don't have to worry about the boys." Chick said.

"Why is that?" Alex asked.

"I told them this legend about ghost dogs and showed them how to ward them off. Had them bury chicken bones and feathers around the yard thinking it will keep the bad sprits away." Chick said proudly.

Alex let out a deep sigh.

"Chick, don't spook them with ghost stories." he said.

"Oh like they're going to believe that story about a dog opening the rabbit hutch?" Chick huffed.

"They'll believe a ghost did it?" Alex countered hatefully.

"Ghost dog that used to be a man, and yes." Chick said.

~ It had been a stormy day a week later when Alex finally found and met Ed Warren's sister in a coffee shop outside of Seattle.

Chelsea Warren wasn't at all what he expected. She had Ed's height, but she was willowy slender and she looked as if she was used skipping meals. Her blond hair was cut as short as a boy and if she had a good figure, it was hidden under layers of clothes meant for men.

Her face, however, like Norma's, was shockingly beautiful and almost regal in bone structure. Her blue eyes shone fiercely and with a savagery that made Norma look as tame as kitten.

Norma was a tiger, yes but Chelsea Warren was lioness.

"You're Sheriff Romero?" she asked inhaling deeply on a cigarette and judging him from across the table where he'd agreed to meet and buy her lunch.

"You're Ed's sister?" he asked. "Chelsea?"

"Yeah." she said in a voice that would soon sound like Sybil. Alex winced slightly at the idea Chelsea's skin would become ash like and sour due to her smoking.

"I was wanting to talk to you about your aunt." he said passively. He sensed that Chelsea was very much like Norma and spoke to her like he did his wife when they first met. The only distinction between the two women is that Chelsea was far too broken and didn't want anyone to try and fix her.

Chelsea seemed to gaze into nothingness for a few seconds before coming back to reality.

"Aunt Laura?" she asked.

"Yes."

"She's dead?"

"Yes."

"You're sure?"

"She's buried in Green Long cemetery next to your brother Cody." Alex said.

Chelsea's china blue eyes widened and she looked angry.

"You know, our dad is getting out in a few months. We've been writing each other for years. My mom got out last year, but she took off for Georgia. Has family there I think. Whoever they are, they never helped me." Chelsea said.

"You were in the system." Alex said darkly. He'd read her file. Laura Warren had pronounced her then six year old niece Chelsea mentally challenged and sent her away to be tested. She'd stayed at a state run institution until she was twelve. Lack of funding had shut the facility down and Chelsea was then sent to a series of foster homes. Somehow along the way she'd managed to get her GED and stay out of trouble, but Alex could tell that this was a woman who was severely damaged by neglect.

"Do you mind if I ask you some questions about your aunt? About your brother?" he asked.

"Is **he** dead?" Chelsea asked. She sniffed slightly but refused to cry.

She looked back at him with her china blue eyes that sliced at him like claws.

"No. He's alive. He's a pastor at the church in White Pine Bay. Your aunt's church." he said.

Chelsea nodded and bit on her lip hard. She looked angry.

"I… uh… I always got letters from my dad. Sometimes my mom. Both of them telling me how sorry they were about Cody. How they lost all of us that day to. Dad found me right away when I went into the system. I even visited him a few times in prison." she looked at Alex as if it was his fault. "Why didn't Ed ever write me? Try to find me?"

 **I'd cast Charlize Theron as Chelsea Warren. Inspiration was her role in "Dark Places".**


	114. Chapter 114

114.

~ "Ed's sister?" Norma questioned harshly when her husband described the odd meeting he had that day. Meeting Chelsea had been unsatisfying and frustrating. Like trying to talk to a teenager who didn't have a clear attention span, often failed to make eye contact or wouldn't answer questions all together.

"What did he tell you about her?" Alex asked. "About his sister?"

Norma was seasoning chicken along with multitasking several other little jobs including laundry. She was wearing a crisp, emerald green apron that complimented beautifully the pink candy colored dress under it. While watching her in her never ending tasks that she accomplished with graceful ease, he was thankful she hadn't turned out like Chelsea Warren. How close she might have come to being just like her to. Both women were subjected to harsh childhoods and yet, Norma seemed to thrive and bloom despite such adversity. What happened to Chelsea that made her look so ground down?

Norma shrugged and started whipping eggs and melted butter together.

"He said she was having troubles adapting to their brother dying and had to go away. I didn't really pry into what that meant." she explained carefully. "I know she was very young when she left home."

"According to the records I found, Chelsea was sent to a state run institution for children when she was only six. She was there till she was twelve and when they closed the place down, she could hardly read. She had lived in five foster homes in six years." Alex explained sadly. "The thing is, their father managed to find her through social workers and he was in prison. Managed visitations and everything. Why didn't Ed Warren ever try and find his sister?"

Norma stared back at him blankly as if he'd told a rude joke.

"Ed… Ed never said anything about an… institution. Foster homes. Anything like that." she said. "If he'd known. I mean, he's got that big house. She could have stayed with him. Right?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out." Alex said calmly. He sensed Norma was trying to protect Ed. Or at least she didn't want her view of her friend to become tainted by something ugly.

"Did Ed ever tell you anything about his Aunt Laura dying? How it happened?" he asked.

"Just that she died." Norma said. "She died and he inherited her house and…" she looked at her husband suspiciously. "What's happening?"

~ A week had passed and Alex had been so preoccupied with a series of massive drug arrest that he'd forgotten all about Chelsea and Ed Warren.

The drug and gun running was increasing through White Pine Bay and becoming more violent and brazen. He'd gotten support from Mayor George Helden to hire more deputies and so far, the highway through White Pine Bay was become a notorious speed trap. Word of mouth was spreading quickly that if you weren't a known local, chances were good you were going to be stopped.

The arrests kept working and a feeling of panic in the back of Alex's mind was telling him this problem was going to get worse before it got better. He was sure Nick Ford had something to do with it but couldn't prove anything.

Nick Ford always kept his hands clean.

~ Sheriff Romero was on his usual patrol with Graceland when he spotted the beat up Plymouth. Its' green exterior so faded by the sun, it now looked almost mint colored.

He knew right away a car like this, twenty years out of date, on its' last leg and with mismatched tires, didn't belong on Grand Street. Not with the likes of Sybil's house and Ed Warren's house. Yet, the sun bleached mint green Plymouth was parked right where the driver in the ball cap could see Ed Warren's house.

Romero quickly pulled up beside the Plymouth and boxed it in so it couldn't make a hasty exist. The driver though, barely cared about the Sheriff of White Pine Bay and made no motion to even start the engine.

Sheriff Romero, sensing there was no danger from the suspect, quickly spotted the willowy arm and short blond hair as soon as the driver took off the worn baseball cap.

"Chelsea?" he asked in disbelief. She stared back at him with indifference and nodded to Ed's house.

"He's living in her house." she said. "Ed's living in Aunt Laura's house?"

Alex looked up at the large Queen Anne mansion with its' well tended lawn.

"He inherited it after your Aunt died." he explained.

Chelsea nodded and scowled at the house.  
"He lives there though?" she asked skeptically.

"Yeah." Alex said.

"Why?"

"Why wouldn't he?"

Chelsea was acting slightly childish again. Her questions were something the boys would ask on they seemed better able to express themselves. A difference probably owing to her years spent locked away without proper education or even attention.

"Is he home?" she nodded to the house.

"Do you want to see him? Thought you said you didn't want to see him." Alex reminded her.

Chelsea got out of the faded Plymouth and Alex noticed she wore almost exactly the same clothes she was wearing the day he'd met her. Her stye of dress seemed centered around faded jeans and layers of T-shirts far too big for her slender body.

"Wait!" Alex called when Chelsea marched up to the opulent house without another word.

~ Thankfully, the only one home just now was the live in nanny Ed and Renee had hired.

"I just want to see the house!" Chelsea hissed petulantly and rudely rang the doorbell despite the sign on the door that plainly said babies were sleeping and not to ring the doorbell.

"Fine." Alex said harshly. He glanced back at Graceland sitting in the SUV. It was double parked, but Grand Street was a sleepy and spacious place. Cars rarely came down here for any reason in the middle of the day.

"Let me do the talking." he said before the nanny opened the door and glared at them angrily.

"Pricilla." Romero said and felt that uneasy nausea that came back to him on prom night when he went to pick up his date and met her angry, foul mouthed mother who didn't like the son of the local Sheriff taking her only daughter out. Alex had broken up with the girl two days later because he couldn't let go of the idea she might turn out just like her mother in a few years. A fear, as it turned out, was fast becoming a reality for the poor girl in question.

"Help you, Sheriff?" Pricilla glared at Romero and Chelsea suspiciously.

"Yes, Norma left her purse here-" Alex started.

"No, she didn't." Pricilla snapped.

"I'm sure she did. This is where she says she last say it." Alex insisted with a winning smile.

Pricilla, she should have worked for the Sheriff's department as quickly as she could smell bullshit, glared at him.

"And sent you to pick it up?" she asked.  
"I was in town." Alex smiled.

"Who is this?" Pricilla asked.

"Ride along." Alex said quickly moving into the foyer before the gate keeper could stop him.

"If you'll just let us look for it, we'll be on our way." Alex said.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dimness of the grand home. The dark wallpaper and the even darker curtains and furniture.

Alex realized he hadn't been inside this house since he was a very small boy and his mother had brought him with her. That was years and years ago when Laura Warren was still alive and healthy.  
To his eyes, nothing at all had changed. Even the victorian era portraits on the wall were still there keeping watch.

"It all looks the same." Chelsea whispered. Her china blue eyes were wide and she looked ominously upstairs.

"Why don't I call the pastor?" Pricilla said. "He can come help you look for that purse."

Alex ignored Pricilla and watched Chelsea instead. The nanny waddling to the kitchen to call Ed home.

"What is it?" he asked when he followed her eye line. She was staring at an ornately carved door on the landing. Its' mahogany door closed but it loomed over the rest of the doors and was clearly the masters' chambers with its' own foyer offsetting the hallway.

"That's her room." Chelsea said and quickly scampered up the stairs.

"Wait. Chelsea!" Romero hissed going after her. The young woman turned the antique knob as soon as she reached the landing and it refused to budge.

"This was Aunt Laura's room." she said in frustration.

"Well." Alex shrugged. "Now, its' where Ed and his wife Renee sleep. They probably keep it locked for a reason."

"No." Chelsea shook her head. "No. He would never sleep in there. He hated having to go in there."

Alex looked at her curiously as she ran a slender hand over the top of the door frame and a bright antique key appeared as if by magic.

"She always thought she was so smart." Chelsea said and quickly turned the key in the lock that was at least a century old.  
"Chelsea, this is a private home. I know he's your brother-" Alex started to say but his words were cut off when the door creaked open and the sharp sting of dust hit his eyes and nose.

Romero took a step back but Chelsea stepped forward into the blackness of her Aunts' bedroom.

~ The rest of the house was like an interactive museum. A living thing that carefully paid respect to the past. Renee had kept the old wallpaper and moved in family friendly furniture of the main room.

Ed seeming to have insisting, that some rooms remain untouched. Rooms that looked as though his aunt Laura was still alive and would be home any second.

Here, in the masters' chambers where Laura Warren once slept, dressed for the day and perhaps lived most of her life, you could still feel her oppressive presence hovering.

Alex was the one to turn on the lights and the feeble lightbulb fluttered for a second before staying on. Bathing the room slowly in a warm light.

Everything here was as old at the house and looked untouched by time or Renee or Pricilla's cleaning.

Old black and white pictures in tarnished silver frames, showed sour faced children with ever grumpier parents behind them. Alex noticed the room was straitened up a bit, the bed made, the clothes put away and things put into order before the entire room was sealed off and left to rot. Even the curtains were closed, forever banishing the sun and view of the back rose garden. This place was like a tomb.

Chelsea looked around the bedroom. Her face angry.

"We shouldn't be here." Alex said coughing back the dust. He wondered why Ed had sealed off his Aunt's room like this. It had to be the nicest bedroom in the house with its' own bathroom and everything. Too nice to just lock away for no reason and left to collect dust.

"This is where my Aunt used to sleep." Chelsea sighed and pointed to the ornate bed with richly carved wood.

"We need to go." Alex said.

"That's where she used to make Ed sleep." Chelsea said pointing to the other side of the bed.

Alex didn't understand at first what she was saying. Her inflections and manner of speaking weren't like a grown woman at all sometimes. Her social skills having become so underdeveloped during her life, that she might never catch up.

"What?" Alex asked.  
"My Aunt." Chelsea said plainly. "She used to make Ed sleep here with her. In this bed. He hated it. Hated her."

Alex felt a slight pull of anxiety trip inside him. That feeling when you roll over a log and see bugs that scare you. Things you just weren't ready to see.

"I tried to make her stop. Make her stop doing it to him. I said I'd tell. She sent me away." Chelsea said softly.

She looked at Alex in confusion.

"Why is he still in her house?" she asked.

 **I know I changed Ed's sister's name from Sarah to Chelsea. Also, I'm building to something and there will be more Normero soon. I know there is a lot of Ed's story for now but it's important.**


	115. Chapter 115

115.

~ "Put it back." Alex scolded while taking in the menu with one suspicious eye on Chelsea. She had casually shipped a salt shaker off of the lunch table and stashed it in her coat pocket.

When she realized he had caught her, she glared at him harshly, only to have the Sheriff of White Pine Bay glare at her in return.

She rolled her eyes and looked away from him. The salt shaker sliding back onto the table top as if it hadn't gone missing in the first place. Alex placed it neatly back into it's rightful position next to the pepper and was reminded of something from Norma's child psychology text books. How children who were exposed to stressful siltations will often steal small or worthless items to make themselves feel more in control of their environment. It would explain Norma and Caleb's odd collections of gum ball machine toys and tokens that she had so lovingly preserved in cigar boxes as if they were priceless treasures.

What exactly had happened to Chelsea? Alex had some theories, but couldn't concern himself with that right now.

"We'll both have the special." he said giving the menu to their harassed looking waitress who seemed relieved the man in uniform didn't want too much special treatment.

As soon as their server was gone, Romero glared at Chelsea.  
"I told you not to go into that bedroom." he said in a low voice.

Chelsea shrugged a looked away.

"Had to see it for myself." she admitted. "Sometimes, I don't know, sometimes I can convince myself it was all just a dream. Now I know its' real."

"What did you mean?" Alex asked. "About your aunt making Ed sleep there with her. Was it… I mean was it because he had nightmares or something?"

Alex wanted to picture Ed as a small version of Norman when he'd first met him. A scared little boy who was overly attached to his mother because of the stress of a violent father. Norman had wanted to sleep with his mother and had resented Alex sharing a bed with her early in their relationship. It had taken a long time for finally coax Norman away from his mother's bed and into his own. Norma was still weak when it came to her youngest son and often Alex had to tell her he was too old now to drag into their bed. Even if it was storming outside and the power had gone out.

Perhaps Ed had been traumatized by Cody's suicide and needed to sleep with his aunt for comfort. An arrangement that Chelsea hadn't liked or thought was healthy. Maybe it was as innocent as that. Only Alex already knew better.

Chelsea shook her head.

"It started with her buying him nice clothes. Having him dress up for her. He got a lot of really special attention from her. Ed and I always shared a room because of Cody. He needed his own space and, with mom and dad, well, we felt safer together." she admitted. "Anyway, Aunt Laura said it was sinful for a boy and girl to share a bedroom and separated us. She put Ed in the room right next to hers. I remember that there was even a door where they could share the same bathroom. It would have made more sense if I had that room since we were both girls, but she made the rules."

Alex leaned in closer and tried to remember Ed Warren at that age. He had been a ten year old kid back then and more obsessed with acting out in school and waiting for summer break than focusing on a little nothing of a nobody like Ed Warren and his sister.

"He told me that she started making him sleep in the same bed with her." Chelsea shrugged. "Almost every night, she would _retire_ early and after we cleaned the dishes and finished our chores, he would have to go upstairs and go to his room. Then things got really quite in the house. I knew he would have to go to her room because he would tell me. He told me he didn't like what she did."

"How long did this go on?" Alex asked feeling that same tightness in his chest when he first learned about Shelby and what he tried to do to Dylan.

Chelsea shrugged.

"When I told Aunt Laura not to touch my brother anymore, that I would tell Sheriff Romero, she hit me. Told me I was a retard like Cody and sent me away because I couldn't read yet. I had to go live in the state school. It was hard but it was my own fault for saying anything. Never saw Ed again. Figured he'd gotten out. Never thought he would have stayed there." she said.

Alex waited for her to go on, but that seemed to be the end of her story. He'd only read a little about the supposed school she'd been imprisoned in. Nothing but a place to dump unwanted and broken children. A place that was overcrowded and understaffed and when it was shut down several years ago, there was an entire investigation made into the mistreatment of the children there.

"You think Ed, your brother, was being molested by your aunt?" Alex asked softly.

Chelsea looked away and shrugged. Her defenses, so much more fragile than Norma's were clearly up at the mention of something so horrible.

"It happens." she admitted cryptically.

"Chelsea." Alex said after a moment of silence when the waitress came with their food, sat it down in front of them and left. "Your aunt died of carbon monoxide poisoning in that house when Ed was eighteen. It was in the springtime and it was ruled accidental because the furnace was malfunctioning."

"It's an old house." Chelsea said in a dead tone. Her expression gone blank as if she could actually see the witch dying in front of her.

"Why would the furnace be on when its' spring time, Chelsea?" Alex asked. "Why would Ed turn the furnace on in May?"

~ Chelsea had checked herself into a motel outside of town. Alex made sure she stayed away from the run down one by Keith Summer's old house. It was still a hot bed of illicit activities and at least once or twice a month there was an arrest for something unseemly there.

She planned to drive back to Seattle in the morning when the weather cleared up. Announcing that she had no intentions of seeing her brother if he didn't want to see her.

Alex was thankful, at last, to call it a day and go home to Norma. Back to his house where at least things were normal, comforting and good. He felt drained somehow after all Chelsea had told him about Ed. Memories of his own childhood suddenly playing over and over in his mind of how he'd treated young Ed Warren and how he'd had no idea the kid had been mistreated by a malicious aunt all that time.

All that time Ed was being abused and no one had a clue. Alex had been so self absorbed with his own life, his baseball wins, his obsession with various blond girls with pretty smiles, his mother's depression and his hatred for the Old Bear. He didn't see what was probably right in front of him.

Alex had been so preoccupied with trying to remember what Ed Warren was like before his aunt died, that he hardly noticed he'd come home at all.  
"Alex." Norma said cooly. She was standing in the kitchen and the whole house smelled like something wonderful was cooking.

"Hi." Alex breathed in relief. Just seeing his beautiful wife was therapeutic for him. She was wearing a dark blue sweater and a skirt that fell to just above the knee.

 _'A little cheeky, aren't we, Mrs. Romero?'_  
"Ed Warren called." Norma said meeting him in the foyer of their house and he was taken aback for a moment by her fierce beauty. His tiger was always the most beautiful when she was little angry. When there was a coldness in her tone and her eyes would flash like a lightning storm.

"Oh." Alex said realizing she probably knew everything he'd been up to that day.  
"Yeah, he said that you and some strange woman broke into his house and went into his aunts' old room. A room he kept locked up because its' full of very rare and valuable antiques and he and Renee didn't want the babies pulling on them." she said in that same cool accusing tone.

"I met with Ed's sister Chelsea again. She just showed up and wanted to see the house." Alex confessed.

"So you decided to break in?" came a harsh masculine tone from the kitchen.

Alex looked away from his wife in surprise to see the large figure of Ed Warren detaching from the kitchen and coming to meet him face to face.

He'd never been scared of Ed Warren. He'd always be that scrawny kid who everyone in school hated because all the mothers in town would praise to the stars and back the wonders of Ed Warren.

"How long has he been here?" Alex asked his wife instead of addressing their visitor.

"Instead of calling me up to tell me you found my sister you decide to break into my house? Have my long lost sister open a room that was locked?" Ed asked sternly as though Alex were a child who had severely misbehaved.

"She did that on her own." Alex corrected.

"You made it your business to interfere with my personal business." Ed accused. "Why?"

"Because your aunt died under mysterious circumstances and that's a police matter, Pastor Warren. There's no stature of limitations on murder." Alex spat hatefully.

"Alex!" Norma breathed.  
"Murder?" Ed said with a forced smile.

"Yeah." Alex nodded.

"Chief Goodspeed, ruled my aunt's death an accident." Ed said.

"An _accident_ which you profited from greatly." Alex told him smartly. "Not only did you inherit a house on Grand Street but Laura Warren had a trust. A lucrative trust which, with a mentally impaired sister, left you the beneficiary."

"And I used that money to go to college and become a church pastor. Not exactly a lucrative career that justifies murder, Sheriff." Ed told him.

"Alex." Norma said calmly.

"Maybe you're trying to appease your conscience." Alex told him.

"Over an accident?" Ed huffed.  
"Ed." Norma tried to intercept the two men.

"I'm thinking I may have sufficient grounds to re-open the investigation into your aunt's death. Now that I found your sister and she's willing to talk. Tell me, Goodspeed and my old man thought it was odd where you were found the night she died, Ed. Care to elaborate? Or do you want to go downtown and do this?" Romero asked.

"Alex!" Norma almost shouted.

~ Despite the farm house always being in Alex Romero's name and his family having deep roots in it for generations, Norma Romero was ultimately the undisputed mistress of the all that came and went there.

She decided what color the walls would be, what plants would be in the garden, if they would have chickens, where that new chair would go and what food everyone would eat for the next week. She was the queen of everything she surveyed once she crossed the property line and no one seemed to question this fact.

It was Norma's house, Alex and the boys just lived there with her.

"You two can come to dinner with me and the boys when you are both ready to start acting like grown ups." she informed them before closing the door to Alex's study and putting them in time out. The expression on Ed's face was far more betrayed than Alex's. He knew exactly what kind of woman he'd married and she refused to have this kind of bickering in her home, not even from the children.

After the initial shock had worn off, Ed turned on Sheriff Romero.

"You really think I did it?" he asked watching Romero unlock and fumble around a desk drawer till he pulled out a half empty bottle of expensive whisky and two glasses.

"If you did, I don't blame you." Alex said unscrewing the top and pouring out a generous helping of the bottle Norma had given him a few months ago. He'd wisely saved it and hidden it away. His wife having an aversion to drinking and didn't want the boys exposed to it.

Romero held the extra glass as a peace offering to Warren and the pastor took it without complaint.

"Why is that?" Ed asked taking a sniff and generous drink that downed the whole glass before the two men filled their glasses agin.

Alex hadn't wasted time sipping his share of the whisky either. Today had bothered him and he couldn't say why. Hadn't he been just a kid himself when the thing had happened? Would it do any good to arrest Ed Warren if he had killed the woman who had been molesting him since childhood?

"I never told you this." he sighed pouring another glass for both him and Ed. "After Sam died, but before Norma and I were together…"

Alex looked at the dark liquid in the glass and wanted to feel the tingling sensation of being slightly drunk. He downed the second glass before he went on.

"You remember Zac Shelby?" he asked looking at Ed Warren and feeling the warmth of the drink spreading through him like magic.

"Yeah, he… um he got some high school girl in trouble and cut out of town a few years ago." Ed said.

Alex shook his head.

"Zack was spending a lot of time with Norma after Sam was killed." he said. "Wanting to be close to her. Staying overnight with her… and the boys. Norma was so sedated on pain medication from her arm and she was sleeping a lot. Didn't see what was happening. I was being told to stay away after the shooting to save face. I didn't know what was happening either. So, we didn't see it till it was almost too late."

"Too late for what?" Ed asked suspiciously and Alex noticed his drink was empty and poured him another.

Romero summoned his strength and tried to find the words again. Remembered how helpless and angry he felt to see Dylan suffer like that and to know he couldn't shoot Zac Shelby dead for it.

"That Zac Shelby had been going into her son's room at night while she was sleeping. That he'd been… very inappropriate with him. That if it had gone on who knows what might have happened." Alex said and looked away. He could feel Ed's shock and judgmental stare. "We don't talk about it. For Dylan's sake. It's different for boys, you know? We hope he'll just forget. He was so young when the thing happened. He was so young and it would have been messy to make a case against Shelby, so… Tom and I ran him out of town. People created this story about a girl and we didn't deny it."

"Why are you telling me this?" Ed demanded. His expression was cold and dangerous.

Alex looked up and knew that Ed knew everything.

"Because Chelsea told me what your aunt did to you. That she made you sleep in the same bed. That when she tried to stop it, she was sent away to a state school." Alex explained calmly.

"Chelsea was sent away because she was a compulsive liar, she stole things and started fires." Ed rolled his eyes.

"So I suppose Goodspeed lied in his report about how he found you in your aunt's bed the night she died?" Alex asked gently.

Ed looked away.

"How all the vents in the house were closed off and the old furnace was on and gas was flowing to her bedroom alone. How she was dead and you would have died to if that neighbor hadn't smelled it?" Alex asked.

Ed was as silent as death. His face unreadable.

"I get why… why you wanted her dead-" Alex started to say.

"You don't understand anything, Sheriff." Ed accused in a savage whisper.

Alex looked up in surprise at the younger man who was always so passive and calm. A man who he knew was still in love with his wife.

"My… my aunt, was already dying." Ed said with a shaky voice. "Bone cancer. It would have been a very long and painful death. She didn't want to suffer. We had talked about it. Planned it together for a few weeks after I graduated. We wanted to go together. The world… there was just no place for us in this world. She had asthma and her breathing was already compromised. She was in bed when I went to light the furnace and shut the vents. By the time I went upstairs, she was already gone. It took longer with me I guess because I was younger. Healthier. Next thing I know, Goodspeed is dragging me out and your dad is yelling at me. There's an oxygen mask over my face."

Ed Warren looked lost for a moment.

"Your mother brought me home from the hospital and for the longest time, I couldn't believe that my aunt was actually dead. They had the funeral without me because I was still in the hospital. I came back to this… empty haunted house and I fully expected to see her again. Telling me it was all a joke. That she'd tricked everyone into thinking she was dead." Ed said. His eyes going red with tears he couldn't seem to shed.

"What about what your sister said?" Alex asked.

"It didn't happen… like that." Ed lied. Alex could tell that was a lie. The way Ed avoided eye contact and the way his left hand went up defensively.

"I didn't know what to do after my aunt died." Ed shrugged. "So, I just stayed in her house. Locked up the room where it happened and went to college like we had planned before the cancer diagnosis. I tried to find Chelsea, I know I failed her. My aunt had told me she was mentally disabled and I tried to locate her through social services but my aunt didn't keep any records. That was wrong, I know that to. But my aunt was a good woman at heart. She was just raised in a strict house and didn't understand how children could be different. How to take care of children who were different."

Alex leaned back in his desk chair. Normally, criminals confessed everything to him through a torrent of tears and pleads to God that they were sorry. Ed's confession was that he meant to die alongside his aunt. That the old woman who'd molested him for years had somehow convinced him to go with her to the grave.

When that had failed, Ed Warren was left all alone in that big empty house. A house full of terrifying ghosts and memories.

"We should wait until the boys are done with supper." Alex sighed. "Norma will keep some food for us and she won't like the fact we've been drinking."

He poured another glass for himself and Ed.

"You're not going to arrest me Sheriff?" Ed asked.

"And be vilified for arresting the wonderful Ed Warren on the grounds he may or may not have euthanized his dying aunt when he was only 18 years old?" Alex sighed. "No thanks. This town already hates one Sheriff Romero they don't need another one."

Both men sat in silence for a while. Thinking their own thoughts.

"You should see your sister before she leaves town." Alex prompted before his brain became too fuzzy.  
"Maybe." Ed agreed. "What's she like?"

"A bit rough around the edges. Could use an older brother to steer her strait. She says your dad is getting out of prison soon." Alex said tersely.


	116. Chapter 116

116.

"You and Ed were a little quite at dinner tonight." Norma mentioned while dressing for bed.

She hated to admit it, but she liked her husband when he was in a brooding mood like this. She always wanted him happy of course, but there was something so undefinably sexy about a man with deep, dark thoughts he kept to himself.

"Felt like I was the only one talking." she went on. She slipped into a barely there night dress. The black one. Not Alex's favorite, because he didn't like her to wear black, but one where she knew he appreciated the cut and style of. A silky like fabric that hugged her body in a flattering way with feminine lace at the hem. It was a night dress he never said no to. Not that he ever did refuse her.

She spied on her husband from the bathroom as she dressed for bed. He'd taken his work papers there like always. Like always, he looked annoyed with them and remained silent. She smelled the whisky on his and Ed's breath as soon as they came out of the study. She hadn't heard any shouting or loud noises, nothing that gave her alarm. In fact the boys were fed and bathed before Alex and Ed calmly walked out of the study and wanted to know what she'd made for dinner. They ate a quite meal together and Norma was the one who seemed to keep the conversation going before telling Ed he could stay in the guest room and she'd call Renee and tell her where her husband was.

"I think I'll make that vegan stew again." Norma said. "Feels like it's getting colder earlier this year. I think Norman is getting so sensitive to animals, it might be a good idea to have a vegetarian meal for everyone once or twice a week."

She came out of the bedroom and noticed her husband hadn't looked up from his paperwork.

"Alex?" she asked hoping to bring his attention to where it belonged. His eyes ripped away from the crime reports and widened when he saw her in the black slip.  
"Bit cold outside for that? Don't you think, Mrs. Romero?" he asked appreciatively.

Norma smiled happily and nodded.

"Have any ideas how to keep warm, Sheriff?" she asked.

He sat aside his paperwork and pulled back the bedding to invite her to join him.

"Are you and Ed okay?" she asked once she was safely settled in the warmth of their marriage bed. Her husband wrapping his arms around her and that feeling like nothing bad could ever happen to her when he was there was present.

"We're fine." Alex admitted. "I just… wanted to know some things about his aunt. He told me. It's things I'm not going to share."

"Not even with me?" she asked resting her head on his shoulder.  
"Sorry, Mrs. Romero." he told her.

"Ed's not in trouble is he?" she asked.  
"No."

"Good." she said. "I'm glad."

~ Alex wasn't so easily appeased.

As the son of a lawman, he was naturally suspicious of everything and he had all the reasons in the world not to trust Ed Warren's story.

Never mind that Laura Warren's medical records never indicated a diagnosis of bone cancer. A disease that would have taken years to exhaust treatments. Or the fact that Ed Warren had been accepted to a prestigious university a month before her death but lacked the money to attend. Until his aunt died and left him so well off. It wasn't until his aunt died that he'd ever even left the county, much less the state.

With her sudden death, Ed Warren had the means to go to college and leave White Pine Bay and all the bad memories forever. Why did he stay? He never attended the prestigious university he'd been accepted to. Instead he attended a small religious school. His fate in life seeming to bring him right back here.

Was it some sort of penance for what he'd done? Some need to stay in the old woman's house as a self induced punishment for killing her?

Maybe the living can't let go of some ghosts. Ed Warren certainly never let go of Cody.

Alex had to wonder if he'd lost Norma, if she were to die suddenly, could he let her go?

As if sensing his thoughts, his wife rolled over in her sleep, seeking the warmth of his body. It promised to be a cold morning when they woke up and she should have worn something more substantial to bed instead of that skimpy night dress.

Still, she always looked very nice in it. Like he'd caught her undressing maybe. Seeing apart of her that he wasn't supposed to see and she had allowed him to view her.

It reminded him of when he used to drive by her little house on the lane and watch her through the windows. How he'd wanted so much just to be near her.

No. He decided at last. If he lost Norma, he couldn't let her go. The loss would be too painful and he couldn't face the emptiness of life without her. He couldn't go back to the life he'd had before they had met. He'd want to live with her as ghosts forever if it meant they'd be together.

~ Norma has forbidden Alex from interfering with Ed's personal life again. She strongly felt that Chelsea and her brother should meet again on their own terms and not have outside interference. Sheriff Romero had already had his fill of Ed Warren and the mystery surrounding his abusive aunt. He already had plenty to keep him occupied outside of his job as Sheriff anyway. His two active sons and a loving, yet high maintenance wife, always kept him busy and distracted. He'd hardly gave a thought to the world outside until the world outside came crashing in one day.

"You wanted me to keep my ear to the ground for Violet Harmon and her family?" Charlotte Evans said over the phone.

Alex quickly stood up and closed his office door. He wasn't supposed to be asking about Violet or the Harmon family and to ask his FBI friend to investigate for him, were all things that could lead to trouble. Better men than Alex Romero had served actual prison time for things like this.

"That was months ago. What took so long?" Alex demanded.

"Are you sitting down?" Charlotte asked.

"Why?" Alex asked suspiciously.

"Look, Alex, I'm going to tell you something and I can't have you running out here ready to kick ass. Promise?"

"Charlotte, tell me what's happened." Alex demanded.

He heard the silence on the other end. Heard the tension on the line as his friend tried to think of the right way to break the bad news. Something terrible had happened, he just knew it.

"The Harmons have a large house out in the country. Here in California." she said with difficulty. "I found them a few months ago, paid them a visit and even saw Violet. Everything was fine."

"Why didn't you tell me you saw Violet?" Alex demanded.

"Because you and Norma would have tried to make contact and spooked the family into running again." Charlotte told him. "Listen, Alex, something happened last night. Something bad."

~ "Where are you going?" Norma asked when she walked in on her husband packing an old suitcase that hadn't been used in years. She'd been at home working a never ending cycle of laundry when she'd gone upstairs to see the Sheriff had come home early.

He looked guilty and for a moment, she had the crazy idea that he was leaving her. Packing the stereotypical suitcase and leaving her and the boys forever.  
"Alex?" she asked holding back a forced laugh.

"I have to go to California." he said lamely. His eyes wide as if she'd caught him in the act of some silly crime a child would commit.

"What? Why?" she asked. "What's happened?"

"Work related. Just for a few days." he said and looked away form her. "Where are my good jeans?"

"Alex? What's going on?" Norma demanded.

"It's just for a few days." he promised pulling out clean shirts and socks from the drawer.

"Few days for what?" she asked.

"I can't tell you." he said. "It's probably nothing."

"You can tell me. Since when do we keep things form each other?" she asked. She could feel the desperation coming. Sharp and painful. She had this feeling that if Alex left, she'd never see him again.  
"Alex?" she asked.

"It's nothing serious, Norma." he promised again. "There's no need to panic."

She sat down on the bed and clutched the laundry basket tightly. It still had his clean and folded uniform in it.

"Don't tell me not to panic, Alex." she warned. "Why are you leaving? Where you even going to say anything?"

Her husband looked slightly exasperated and shook his head.

"I have to go. I have a flight to catch. I'll call you when I'm at the hotel." he said and leaned over to kiss her cheek.

~ California was beautiful with bright sunshine that Alex wasn't used to. The Harmon family had bought a victorian farm house that was in need of repairs, but was perfect for a young family. It was set in the middle of the country, a grape vineyard to be exact, and aside from all the blood on the inside of the house, everything was picture perfect.

"No bodies." Charlotte said when Alex looked over the blood stains that covered the main stairs.

"How can their be no bodies?" Romero asked. "No way anyone walked out of here."

"All I can tell you is crime scene here is pretty lacking and they told me there are no bodies yet. It's been twelve hours since all this was discovered. School bus driver knows the kids and made it a point to walk up to the house when Max and Violet didn't catch the bus. He saw all the blood and called it in."

Alex had been forced to remove his shoes and wear hospital wrapped plastic booties around the house along with Charlotte.

"Step where I step." she warned.

"Violet?" Alex asked when he spotted the family pictures of Ben and Vivian Harmon with their picture perfect children. Violet had gotten bigger but she still looked like her sister. The resemblance was shocking in fact.

He noticed she didn't seem to smile as readily though. Her face mimicking Norma's when there was a cloud of sadness passing over them.

"Her room is upstairs." Charlotte said. "We've searched everywhere. No sign of the girl."

"All this blood, we're not going to find anyone alive." came a gruff voice from he kitchen. Alex and Charlotte stopped and waited for the voice's owner to appear.

"Be nice." Charlotte warned Romero.

"I'm always nice." Alex said.

A short, fat balding man in a police uniform came waddling out of the kitchen. He observed Alex and Charlotte together before nodding to Romero.

"Who's this now?" he asked.

"Sheriff Chambers, this is Sheriff Romero from White Pine Bay Oregon. He's married to Violet Harmon's sister Norma Romero. Remember, I told you the little girl was adopted. Norma Romero is her only blood relation." Charlotte explained.

"And does _Norma Romero_ know what's happened to her sister?" Sheriff Chambers asked Alex sarcastically.  
"I don't want to worry her until we have something." Alex said. Already, he didn't like Sheriff Chambers.

"Well, we have something." Chambers said looking around at all the blood streaked across the floor. "A lot of something."

"What happened here, Sheriff?" Alex said curtly.

~ "Ben Harmon. His Wife Vivian and their two children moved here about a year ago. Very nice family. The wife taught up at the high school. Music classes. Ben was a licensed therapist." Sheriff Chambers explained. "No reason why anyone would want to hurt them."

"What about the lawsuit?" Charlotte asked. The three of them had gone upstairs where Alex had discovered Violet's room. A perfectly nice bedroom, that still paled in comparison to her old one back in Florida.

"We're looking into that right now." the Sheriff said. "That Hews family didn't take too kindly to Ben Harmon's book."

"Has anyone talked to the Hews family?" Alex asked looking over Violet's collection of vintage Nancy Drew books. She had the complete series it looked like along with other kid detective books he'd never heard of before. Not bad for an eight year old.

Violet clearly didn't care for the bubble gum literature of her peers. Nothing about boys or unicorns here. He felt himself smile at the books of ghost stories that Norma would have thought too scary for a child that age.

He looked up at Charlotte and Sheriff Chambers. Both of them looked uncomfortable.

"What?" Alex asked.

"After Glenn Hews was released from juvenile custody, he went to live with his Aunt. The family that was suing Ben and Vivian." Charlotte explained slowly.  
"And?" Alex asked.

"They were found murdered last week in their home in Florida, Alex. Glenn Hews was nowhere to be found." Charlotte told him.


	117. Chapter 117

117.

~ "I've know Alex Romero for a long time now. He's like a son to me." Tom Wilson said lazily. "I don't picture him fooling around, Norma. I mean, I can't really see him keeping another woman from you. It's hard enough job to keep one woman happy, let along two."

Norma felt a weak smile come across her face that faded as soon as it started. She knew Alex wasn't the type to cheat on her either, but what other expiration was there? His office said he had taken a few personal days and was with his family. Yet, he wasn't at home.

When he'd called that first night, he wouldn't tell her where he was. Only that it was work related. A lie because his work said he was taking personal time.

"Maybe it's something he can't tell you about or doesn't know how to tell you about. Men do that sometimes." Tom said comfortingly. "It's not the best strategy, I know, but men do that all the time."

Norma looked out on the expansive back yard of the Wilson's farm and watched Dylan and Norman playing.

"Tom, he packed a suitcase. Wouldn't tell me where he was going and… when he calls he won't tell me where he is." Norma sighed. "This isn't war time. He's not on some special top secret mission with the CIA. He's lying to me."

"Give him the benefit of the doubt, has he ever lied to you before?" Tom asked.  
"Not about things that really mattered." Norma admitted. Alex lied to her plenty about little things men always lied about to appease their wives. That he'd be ready on time, that he'd put the dishes in the dishwasher before bed. That he wouldn't let the boys have sugar or pizza on the nights when she had class. Nothing as traumatic as this.

"If he won't tell me what's going on tonight." Norma sighed. "I'll tell him don't bother coming home."

~ Alex surveyed the small town sheriff's station and was thankful for the bloated budget Heldon and pervious mayors had given the law enforcement community over the years.

Here they were operating with barely a dozen men and only one full-time secretary where Sheriff Romero had more than triple the staff and far more technology. A better building to.

"Forensics has been to the house. That's crime scene investigation." Sheriff Chambers said for Romero and Charlotte's benefit.

"We know." Alex said curtly. "What did they find?"

Chambers looked slightly offended by the younger man and his attractive female companion.

"Seems there was a lot of foot prints that didn't belong to the family. Large enough to belong to a male intruder. So far, they have isolated three distinct sets in the blood pools. From the looks of the crime scene, the victims were all dragged out of the house through the front door and most likely loaded up and taken to a second location." Chambers said slowly.

"What about the blood of Violet Harmon?" Charlotte asked professionally. "The girl?"

"So far we are running all the blood we can but you're talking a lot of blood, Miss Evans." Chambers said.

"Agent Evans." Charlotte corrected him.

"Right." Chambers said.

"There was no blood in Violet's room." Alex reminded Chambers. "No evidence that she was in that house even. There are acres and acres of land that she could have run off into when the intruders broke into her house."

"Yes, and we appreciate you and Miss… sorry _Agent_ Evans taking the time to search the surrounding fields for the missing children, Sheriff Romero." Chambers said. "We have no evidence to suggest that Violet escaped the attack."

"Traffic cameras." Alex spat.

"Excuse me?" Chambers said.

"Traffic cameras for the night of their disappearance. I want to see them. Your town has them. If the assailants really did drag bodies out of that house, they would have had to use a truck or van. It will narrow the field down if we look at traffic cameras from the area for that night." Alex demanded.

"Traffic cameras." Chambers said again.

~ It was a slow process. Alex felt his eye grow blurry watching the different cars mindlessly stop and go again for hours on the night of the Harmon's disappearance.

"Last phone record is an outgoing call Ben Harmon made to his publisher around 2pm." Charlotte said when Alex paused over a truck with a tarp over it. He wrote down the license plate and description and went on to the next.

"That's a pretty wide window." he said.

"Better than what we had before." she reminded him.

"These cops are incompetent." Alex said. "It's like they don't care, or they want Violet to be found dead."

"The Harmons to, right?" Charlotte reminded him.  
"I don't give a damn about the Harmons." Alex admitted gruffly.

"Alex." she scolded.

"You never met them. Not really." he said. "Ben was manipulative and had this smug, self serving way about him. Vivian was trying to play the perfect wife and mother but you could tell she was ready to pull her hair out. Wouldn't be surprised if she was having an affair or was a closet heroin addict or something. Kids were caught in the middle and they were both miserable."

"Why didn't you and Norma try to get Violet before?" Charlotte asked. "If she's Norma's biological sister?"

Alex shook his head.

"The adoption had gone through. Norma and I weren't even married then. Ben and Vivian looked like the perfect family. The kind of people who could give her everything. You should have seen their house in Florida, Charlotte. It was beautiful." he looked at the passing cars from the night of the incident on the screen. "Now look what's happened to them."

"Stop." Charlotte said.

"What?" Alex leaned forward.

"That's a boat." she said stopping the tape and leaning over to see an impressive speed boat being pulled by a large, expensive looking truck.

"Big enough to haul bodies." Alex said darkly.

~ The Harmon's house still felt odd to be in with the family gone. Like Alex was intruding on their lives even though he knew they were most likely dead.

There was still blood everywhere. Trails of it was all over the stairs and banister, even in the kitchen and living room.

The bedrooms were the only place where there wasn't any trace of violence and that's where Alex kept finding himself being drawn to.

Not to Ben and Vivian's bedroom or their son's but to Violet's small attic room. He looked over her mystery and ghost story books. The kind of things that involved possessed dolls or the ghosts of victorian girls in fancy houses. She still had her doll house from when he and Norma had visited her in Florida, but it didn't seem played with. Instead, it looked shut up and abandoned in one corner of her bedroom.

Violet was learning to play the violin like Vivian and had even been in some competitions. Something she seemed to have taken great pride in with medals hanging from her walls.

"Any news on the boat?" he asked pulling out a photograph of Violet with her mother at a music completion. Violet holding her small violin up with her and Vivian smiling proudly together.

"None." Charlotte said coming into the girl's bedroom. "Camera couldn't catch the plates."

"We can't give up. I know she's still alive." Alex said. "I can't call Norma and tell her that her sister is dead."

"Maybe it's time to tell her something Alex." Charlotte said. "It's been two days."

~ Norma was half asleep when the portable phone rang in her hand. She'd been carrying it around with her in the hopes Alex would call and the boys wouldn't answer it before she got to it. It had been hard enough to fend off their never ending questions about where he'd gone. She missed her husband so much, she now slept with the phone in her hand in the hopes of not missing his call.

"Alex?" she said breathlessly. The caller ID said unavailable which could only mean he was out of the area.

"Hey." he said soberly and she felt that tightness in her body ease. She had to remind herself she was angry at him.  
"Where are you?" she demanded.

She heard him take a deep breath and waited.

"I'm in California." he admitted. "It's… it's an investigation."

"You're work says you're taking personal days." she said bitterly.  
"I know. This is personal." he said.

"Are you there alone?" she asked. Feeling a pit in her stomach start to hurt.

"No." he said. "Charlotte is with me. Remember, I told you about her? She works for the FBI?"

"Charlotte." Norma said coldly.

"Baby, it's not what you think." he said.

"If it's not what I think, then come home." she demanded.

"I can't just now." he said. "I have… I have things I have to do here."

"Alex…" she sighed. "What things? Just tell me."

She waited, and the silence between them grew and grew. She knew her husband couldn't be rushed sometimes. Especially over something difficult. Whatever this was, it was serious.

"Alex, what happened?" she asked at last.

"There was a murder." he admitted. His voice sounding sad over the line. "A family. I was brought in because, because I know them. I… I _knew_ them."

"Oh." she said feeling that she hadn't been the understanding wife of a sheriff she'd always wanted to be. "Alex, I'm sorry."

She heard his voice tumble slightly. That stutter coming back.

"We… we're looking for the- the bodies now. When we find them… shouldn't be too much longer." he said. His voice sounded strained and worried.

"Alex, I'm sorry. I didn't know." she said.

"Are the boys okay?" he asked.

"They're fine." she said. "I took them to see Tom and Tess today."

"Chick fixed the front gate today?" he asked.  
"Yes." Norma sighed. "You know he's been around the property all week. Finding little things to do. He and Norman are best buddies now."

"That's good." Alex sighed.  
"Yeah." Norma sighed. "You know Chick wears this kimono and carries Norman around on his shoulders? It's a little… strange but he's gotten Norman to not be afraid of the color red anymore. I don't know how he did it, Alex."

"Magic." Alex sighed. "I'm going to go to bed soon. I'll call you in the morning. Okay?"

"Okay." she said feeling sorry that he was so far away. So far away and living off of fast food and sleeping in a crappy motel.

~ Alex hung up the receiver and looked at the burger and fries he'd gotten for dinner. He missed his wife's cooking already and missed being at home with her and the boys.

He hated lying to her, even if it wasn't totally a lie. It was a part of his job right? To decide what to tell who and when? If Norma knew about Violet now, she would race here as soon as possible and face the heart ache and frustration of the missing persons investigation he was in right now.

No. It was better if Alex dealt with this until he knew for sure what happened to Violet. If she was dead, then he could tell Norma himself. Nothing was worse than not knowing.

 **I know this was a short chapter. Sorry. Busy day.**


	118. Chapter 118

118.

~ "They were found by some campers." Sheriff Chambers said. "Bodies were left out in the open and I'm afraid the wildlife got to 'em."

Alex winced as the sheet was pulled back to reveal what was left of Ben Harmon's face. His nose, lips and eyes had been eaten away and he was almost unrecognizable.  
"That's him." Alex nodded.

"We'll have to run dental records to be certain." Chambers said.

The older man shook his head and had the respect to at least look saddened that the Harmon's had come to such a grisly end.

"Ben and Vivian were most likely killed first. Gun shots to the chest for both of them. The boy, Max, had his throat cut and bled out." he said.

"Violet?" Alex asked glancing at the three bodies in the morgue. Three bodies were all that was recovered today.

"Still haven't found her, but we're going over the entire area." Chambers said. "It's been almost a week now, Sheriff Romero. The odds of the girl coming out of this alive are…"

"I know what the odds are." Alex said. It felt like his voice didn't belong to him anymore. It sounded weak and frail. Like he didn't have enough breath to make proper sounds anymore.

"I need to call Violet's sister now." he admitted. "Norma… she needs to know."

~ "What did Norma say?" Charlotte asked sympathetically handing Alex a cup of freshly made coffee in a paper cup and taking a seat next to him in the morgue waiting room. They were expecting the final report on the bodies from the medical examiner.

"She didn't ask too many questions." he admitted. "I told her that she needed to leave the boys with Tom and Tess and to get down here. That it was important. It's not the kind of thing I want to tell her over the phone."

"It's already on the news." Charlotte sighed. "Maybe she already knows."

Alex didn't say a word. He didn't have the strength anymore.

"So, the area where the bodies were found are just off a back road. There are literally dozens of small farms along that road and we're going door to door, Alex. Just in case Glen Hews kept Violet alive." she said.

"Alive for what? She's eight years old? To rape and torture her?" he asked hatefully.  
"You can't think like that." Charlotte warned. "Glen Hews' profile showed no affinity towards child molestation or aggressive sexual acts."

"No, he just kills people." Alex snapped.

Charlotte looked down at her hands.

"I'm sorry." Alex said. "I'm just, not looking forward to having to tell my wife that her sister is dead. I should have done more to save her."

"You went above and beyond for the little girl." Charlotte told him. "You always do."

~ Norma had heard a brief story about the bodies of a family being discovered in California on her flight to join Alex. But the names hadn't been released and she hadn't associated the crime with her sister at all.

In her mind, Violet was still that bright eyed six year old in Florida who played with dolls. When Norma arrived in the small community in her rented car from the airport, she could feel the tension in the town. Feel the way everyone was looking over their shoulders and eyeing each other suspiciously.

It couldn't have been her imagination either that there was a large police presence for a community that was smaller than White Pine Bay.

It didn't take her long to find the Sheriff's station Alex had told her to come to. Government buildings all looked the same to the trained eye. Bland, efficient, non-descriptive and inoffensive.

When Alex had called and told her to join him here, she assumed it was because he'd just been missing his wife and wanted her moral support. Now, she sensed there was something else that was very wrong. Something that involved her.

She immediately thought of Caleb. That he was somehow involved even after his death and that one of his previous crimes from years ago had been discovered. Had he killed someone? Was their evidence that lead back to Norma? Back to Dylan of something?

Maybe it was her parents. Last she'd heard they were in Florida and in bad health. What if they were here and her father was causing trouble again? She'd spent her entire childhood living like some kind of wild gypsy child. Her parents running from bill collectors and being chased out of town by lawmen. Her parents lived in fear of the police and would always avoid them whenever possible.

How ironic that she was married to exactly the kind of man her father would have hated. She smiled softly at the idea of Alex coming face to face with her father. Certainly not her father as he was now. No doubt an old, frail man. But the mean-hearted bully who used to starve and beat his wife and children into submission.

She briefly entertained herself by the idea of Alex beating the abusive drunk to a pulp and freeing a child version of herself and Caleb from the life they had barely survived.

' _God, Dylan and Norman will never have to know what it was like.'_ she thought with sudden realization. _'They won't ever know what it was like to have be so afraid all the time. To go hungry most nights. To go without the most basic of things. To have a mother who checks out and a father who hurts them for just existing.'_

The thought struck her a revolutionary and reassuring. Their lives, hers and Alex's were so boring at times. So wonderfully, blissfully mundane and average. Her children were the kids she'd once envied in school. The well tended ones who's parents had steady jobs, health insurance and real homes. Who, when the food ran out, their moms just got more from the supermarket and it wasn't a luxury to have food and the power turned on. It wasn't a novelty to have clean clothes and safe place to live.

"Norma?" a familiar voice called and she was pulled from her thoughts to see her husband in plain clothes.

He looked tired and worried. His expression almost like Dylan's when he was scared or upset about something. She wasn't used to seeing him like this. Not her husband. Not her Alex Romero.

"I'm came as soon as I could." she said.

"Norma, I need you to come with me." he said in a gentle voice that she knew meant something was wrong.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously. "What's happened?"

"I need to talk to you, just not out here." he said softly.

~ Then, it was like everything feel apart. It was like when she woke up in the hospital after Sam was shot and she wasn't certain what was real. If maybe she had dreamt the whole thing or not.

Alex was talking to her in the city morgue next to a tall woman that she only recognized from his old pictures in the Marines as Charlotte Evans. He still had that wounded expression on his face. His eyes pleading for her to understand and give him a sign that she accept this reality.

"Their bodies were found along a rural road about fifty miles from their home, Mrs. Romero." the tall woman with the dark hair and eyes was saying.  
"Norma." Norma said absentmindedly. "Just call me Norma."

"Of course." Charlotte said politely. "We are trying to create a search grid for Violet. We are working under the assumption that she's still alive till we have proof otherwise."

"This was the case you were working on?" Norma asked Alex. She had rejected the entire idea that the Harmon family had been brutally murdered in their home and that Violet was missing. It was like her brain couldn't handle that part and had stashed away that information for a later time. A time when she could make more sense of what had happened.

"Yes." Alex said. "I didn't want to worry you till we knew what had happened. For all we knew, the Harmons had just left town."

"Oh." Norma said feeling numb and sick.

She looked at the door to the morgue.  
"Are they in there?" she asked worriedly. Would they make her identify them?

"They have already been identified by dental records and the bodies are being shipped to be cremated." Charlotte explained.

"Oh." Norma said.

"We are going to find Violet." Alex said looking at Norma as if he needed her to believe him.

She didn't believe him though. Didn't believe that Violet was alive. She believed that her sister was dead. That they just hadn't found her yet.  
"When you find Violet," Norma said taking a deep breath and feeling her world become unsteady. "I want to take her body back with us. Back to White Pine Bay. She needs to be with us, Alex. With her real family. I want her buried when I can visit her everyday."

~ Like something out of horrible fairytale, the kind Max read, the monster came.

Violet had been in her room and heard the gun shots. Heard her mom screaming and shouting. Heard Max cry out in shock.

She had thought it was a joke at first and waited until there was laughter. Laughing meant some of her dad's drunken intellectual friends had come over and would want to stay up all night again.

Her dad had taken to brewing his own beer in the basement that's where the parties got loud and would go on for hours. Violet's mother growing annoyed with what she called his 'attitude' and not talking to him for a few days.

This lead to weeks of not talking till finally, they never talked. It was the new normal.

So, when the house wasn't filled with ruckus, drunken laughter and fell into an unnatural silence, Violet knew something was wrong.

The house was never this quite. Not when there were people inside it. It was an old house, beautiful and rustic with faded paint and weathered wood. When it rained, the smells of that wood would seep out and there was a drowsy contentment that was like the spell of Sleeping Beauty's castle.

The house always spoke to her. Most of the time, right from her little attic room at the top of the stairs where her parents hated to climb. She had all the privacy in the world here and could hear the goings on in the house below as if she were in the same room.

She knew when her parents were fighting, what they were fighting about and what creepy thing Max had done that had them worried.

The energy had changed when the gunshots rang out. Loud bangs and screams and cries that were so out of place here. Then quite. Quite and the sounds of Violet breathing in her room all alone.

Nothing stirred in the house anymore. The floorboards didn't creak, and the house didn't speak to her. Everything was dead.

She froze in place like a startled rabbit. Listening. Waiting.

She heard it then. Heard the monster coming up the stairs. Heard the creaking. His footsteps were all wrong. Not dad's, not mom's, not Max. No. It was a stranger.

Thinking fast she shut off her lights and plunged the attic bedroom into darkness. Quickly ducking under the bed before the monster could reach the door and hoping her breathing wouldn't alert him to her presence.

~ It felt like forever. Like she had to stay under the bed until the monster in the black army boots went away. She wasn't sure what he was doing, but he wasn't in a hurry. The noises downstairs, his heavy footsteps as he used the bathroom and the sounds of the front door shutting and opening again.

Violet was too afraid to move from under the bed. To afraid that the old floorboards would sound off for her just as much for him.

She didn't recognize the intruder. At least by his shoes. They were different from all of her dad's friends and even the man her mother had, on occasion, become friendly with. This person dressed like the kids at the high school. In scary militant clothing that meant they wanted war and violence.

When at last she thought the man had gone, the house was quite and still, Violet crawled out from under the bed. The house, its' energy still feeling raw and savage when it had never felt like that before, seemed to wait for her. Expecting.

The monster had left her bedroom door open when he'd looked over her room before. He'd hopefully thought she was at a slumber party or out of town. Her bed was neatly made as always and she hadn't made a peep while he was skulking around her home.

She crept out onto the landing and spied down into the hallway downstairs. The wood floors looked different. Like they had been stained red.

"There you are." said an amused voice from the shadows behind her and Violet Harmon knew no more.


	119. Chapter 119

119.

~ "Dylan it's a work trip. We're not going to bring you back something." Alex sighed into the phone. His oldest was in a bad mood at the sudden upheaval of having his parents gone and being stuck with Tom and Tess.

An older couple who, while perfectly nice and liberal with parenting practices, weren't the same as their own mom and dad.

"When are you going to come home?" Dylan whined just as Alex feel the weight of Norma sink into the bed beside him. She'd been dangerously quite since the morgue, hadn't eaten anything, and had that odd, thousand yard stare that worried him.

He'd only seen this on her a few times before. Most notably after Sam had broken her arm and she still hand't shaken herself free of the shock of it.

"Soon enough." Alex promised. "You and Norman need to be good. Understand?"

"We are." Dylan sighed. "Why can't we be there?"

Alex glanced at his wife who'd already curled into a ball beside him.

"There's nothing for kids to do here, son. It's boring. It's grown up stuff." he said.

"We can help." Dylan offered.

"I know you can." Alex said gently. "We'll talk about it when we get home. Okay?"

He placed the revived gently back on its' cradle and looked over at Norma. She was obviously awake but had that far off look about her that Alex was afraid to interfere with.

"Norma?" he asked rolling over and spooning against her.

"If we'd hired a lawyer…" she said darkly. "Hired a good lawyer and won custody of Violet when we first found out about her… this would have never have happened."

She allowed him to wrap his arms around her and think this dark thought out loud.

"We just kept waiting. Waiting and hoping for the best. The best never came." she sighed and muffled a sob.

"I'm sorry." he said and tried to think of something comforting to say to her. Nothing was coming to mind. There were no words that could make this better.

Naturally, when they found Violet, she would be taken back to White Pine Bay and buried in the Romero family plot. He wasn't sure how he would manage it, but Alex had friends in high places who could make things happen. Besides, he doubted the Harmon's had any family left who would protest Violet's remains being taken by her blood relative. No, he would sign the order himself to have her body taken to White Pine Bay. To the creepy undertaker who had taken care of Simon.

She would have a that same blindingly white headstone as his mother's. Something that was easily seen in the cemetery from far away, and yet vanished when the winter snow fall came. There was something poetic about the way his mother's stone shone so brightly in when the weather was mild and green. Yet, when the snow came, it was practically invisible. Like she was never really there at all. A creature he'd perhaps only imagined. Something that could vanish so easily when the weather turned cold.

Norma would get what she wanted on this no matter how many rules Alex Romero had to bend. Although, he suspected he wouldn't have to bend too many rules in this case. No one come foreword to claim the cremated remains of the Harmon family or the sad remains of their lives. The Harmon house and their belongings were sealed up and in probate until Vivian's sister could be located. It seemed she liked to travel overseas and there was some difficulty finding her now.

It had now been seven days since the family was discovered missing with no sign at all of Violet Harmon or the elusive killer.

~ Norma had terrible dreams.

She was in the church. Ed Warren's church with it's warm red wood walls and it's illuminating stain glass windows. It was cozy and pleasant. Nothing bad could ever happen here. It was her safe place. Her sanctuary.

It was a place Violet had never been to, and yet, there she was. Her body, dead for days and sitting lifeless on the front pew of the empty church. Her eyes milky and her skin a grayish blue from lack of oxygen.

Flies were buzzing around her open mouth and her jaw was set in an unnatural pose of death as though she'd died in agony.

"Norma, we have to hold the service." Ed Warren was saying angrily. He was always so bossy and angry. Especially when things needed to get done.

"Ed." she gasped and pointed to Violet's poor little body. The contorted hands and sickening jaw that was still slacked open in death.  
"Ed, that's my sister." she pleaded to him.

"Well, you should have done more for her." Ed scolded in a ways that sounded more like her father's voice than Ed Warren's.

She looked at the pulpit and saw not Ed Warren's broad frame, but her father's.

The big blustering man with the perpetually angry scowl glared down at her. His expression judgmental just as it was when she was a child. When he would come home and look at her as if accusing her of something terrible.

"What have you been up to, Norma Louise?" her father growled.

Norma jerked awake to the sound of the phone ringing and for a moment, had to convince herself it was all a dream. Her father wasn't here. Wasn't anywhere near here. Wouldn't ever step foot in Ed Warren's church and if he ever came near her, Alex would make quick work of that horrible old man.

She felt herself breathing hard as phone next to their motel bed was still ringing when her husband rolled over to answer it.

"Romero." Alex groaned sleepily into the phone. "What is it?"

Norma waited in silence and tired to tell herself it was just a dream. An awful dream, but just a dream. If felt so real and terrible though. Like her father could hurt her, even now.

"Are you sure? Chuck, you need to be sure." Alex said sitting up in bed and snapping on the light.

Norma glanced at her husband who seemed slightly younger and more boyish than before with his uncombed hair. He resembled how he must have looked in high school with his dark thick locks ruffled so out of control.

"Yes." he said over the phone. "We're on our way. Thank you."

"What is it?" Norma asked weakly.

"Violet." he sighed in disbelief. "She's been found. She's alive and at the hospital."

~ It would take years for Violet to ever speak about what happened to her in those seven days. She was never sure if those memories were real or just apart of the things she made up. Apart of the fairytales she forever tormented her newly found brothers Dylan and Norman with.

Tales of a monster in black biker boots, trees without end, a murdered king, queen and prince. And a girl being turned into a bird and having to live in a cage. All this made for fascinating bedtime stories, but none of it lent itself to the truth.

~ "Her throat was cut." Charlotte explained hastily. "He did it quickly and missed the jugular. She managed to crawl away when he left her on the side of the road and one of our people found her. In another county, that's why we brought her here."

"Oh God." Alex sighed.

Wisely, Charlotte had distracted Norma away from the grisly details of Violet's discovery by having a nurse take down a detailed family history. Things Norma couldn't possibly know about the girl but as her only blood relative, she was better than nothing.

"Alex, they already did the exam and there was no sign of sexual assault." Charlotte said. "That's the good news."

"The bad news?" Alex asked feeling slightly dizzy.  
"Aside from he fact her family was murdered, she was held captive and her throat was cut open?" Charlotte asked. "She's dehydrated, but we found no evidence of any serious physical harm. We think she was kept bound by the wrists, but no other bruising on her."

"For seven days?" Alex asked. "She was kept bound? Denied food and water? Then he tries to kill her and dumps her in another county?"

"Right now, only a few people even know she's alive." Charlotte said. "We're keeping the local Sheriff Chambers out of this. Notice how he wasn't invited."

"Why?" Alex asked.

"Because if Glenn Hews finds out his victim isn't dead, he might come back and finish the job." Charlotte explained. "No, its' best if he thinks she's dead. Its' best if the world thinks she dead. I've already discussed it with the people in witness protection."

"Witness protection?" Alex asked in alarm.

Charlotte nodded her expression growing hard and serious.  
"While she was lucid and getting her throat stitched up, she indicated Glenn Hews out of a series of security cameras from a few months ago. Identified her kidnapper from photos her father didn't have access to. When I asked her where he took her, she wrote, a house. We're currently scouring the area for abandoned property. There is every reason to think he's killed more people to use their home for a safe house." Charlotte said. "Violet was able to give us a good description of the car Glenn Hews was driving and it's only been a few hours. He couldn't have gotten far."

Her speech had become cruel and exacting. A shark smelling blood in the water and ready to attack without mercy.

Charlotte wouldn't show Glenn Hews mercy either. She liked the idea of seeing someone like him suffer in prison for what he'd done. She would make sure the other inmates would know what he did to Violet and her family.

"Can I see her?" Alex asked stepping away from Charlotte with her shark like glare. The air seeming to grow a little cold around the vicious predator right now.

"Of course." she said. "Just don't excite her."

"Never." Alex sighed and glanced at Norma in the waiting room trying to answer the endless questions about allergies. It was best she stay distracted right now. Once Norma got ahold of Violet, she would never let her go.

~ Violet remembered Alex Romero. The very tall, dark and handsome man that had accompanied her grown sister to Florida a few years ago. She thought about them a lot since then and wasn't surprised to see he was the first to visit her.

She'd been coloring and wondering where her mother and dad were. Where Max was. Shouldn't he be bugging her by now? Deep down, she knew why they weren't here. Why she was all alone and why he sister's boyfriend was here. She remembered he worked as a policeman and she knew what he was coming to tell her. He was going to tell her what that tall woman with the dark hair refused to tell her.

"Violet?" Romero said gently. His face softening as he came to sit beside her.

Violet had reached for more green to color in the trees she was trying to recreate. Always there were trees in her memories now.

"Do you remember me?" Romero asked and Violet nodded. She'd found it difficult to talk since the bad thing happened and her voice sounded off and raspy. It hurt to breathe to sometimes.

She reached for a blank sheet of paper and wrote.

 _'Norma?'_

She held it up for the dark haired man to see. He smiled and nodded.

"Your big sister is outside. She'll be here in a minute. I wanted to see you alone before she got her hands on you. Once she sees you, you know she's not going to ever leave you." he said calmly.

Violet knew that. She looked forward to it in fact. She wanted that protective embrace of a mother like presence. Her own mother was a very lady like, educated woman with her violin concerts and doctor husband, but she could be cold sometimes.

Violet suspected her older sister would be nothing short or smothering with affection.

She wrote again on the paper.

 _'My family?'_

Romero furrowed his eyebrows.

"We can talk about that later." he promised.

She wrote again.

 _'Dead?'_

She watched him try to meet her eyes and fail. Saw tears swim there and realized she had never seen a man cry before.

"Yes, they're gone." he said with a broken voice. "I'm sorry."

Violet nodded slowly. She wasn't sure what would happen next. Would she live in that house alone? Go to an orphanage? What would become of her?

"Your sister, wants you to come and live with us." Romero said as if answering her silent question. "We've had a room ready for you for a while now."

Violet shook her head and wrote.

 _'Mom and Dad said you and Norma didn't want me.'_

She showed it to him and he looked annoyed.

"That's not true." he scolded. "That was never true. Your sister wants you to come home with us and so do I."

Violet folded up the paper she'd just written on. The word's _mom and dad_ feeling strange to her now. She would never call anyone _mom and dad_ again.

"Would you like to come live with us?" Romero asked. His voice was gentle and kind.

Violet nodded. She pulled at the bandage so that she could talk to him.

"What…" she gasped and her voice hurt. The sting of the bad thing still raw on her mind along with the wound.

"What… if he… comes back?" she said slowly.

"He won't." Romero said darkly. "I'm promise you Glenn Hews will never hurt you again."

~ Alex and Violet had been right about Norma's need to smother her younger sister with affection as soon as she saw her.

"We're taking you home with us." Norma promised smoothing out Violet's long hair and braiding it away from her face. "You just rest until we can book the plane. We'll take a car if we have to. You already have a room ready, It's been ready for years now. We've wanted you to come visit us for a long time but your family kept moving. You're safe now, we've got you and we're never going to let you go."

Alex, noticing Charlotte waving at him excused himself and allowed Norma to overly mother Violet with affection. He felt sorry for anyone who disturbed them. His tiger protecting the most delicate of their young right now.

"I figured you and Norma would want to take her home with you." Charlotte smirked.

"You guessed right." Alex said hotly. "She didn't know her family was dead?"

"Didn't want to tell her." Charlotte said.  
"No, you just let me do it." Alex snapped.

She gave him a look and shrugged.  
"I got the documents from witness protection. New name, and birth certificate. Ingrid White. Only survivor of a car crash in L.A twenty-four hours ago. Reality is, the whole family died, but its' easier this way. Ingrid is roughly the same age, race and had the same hair and eye color as Violet. We're also putting the official closed adoption together as we speak. No gaps for Glenn Hews to follow up on. It will still take a year to finalize, but you and Norma can take your adoptive daughter _'Ingrid'_ home as soon as she's released. Even enroll her in school.

She handed Alex the newly minted birth certificate and for Ingrid White.

"Her social security card will arrive in the mail soon with her new number. Violet is picking up Ingrid's life right where she left off."

"How did you do this so fast?" he asked.

"Simple." Charlotte scoffed. "Witness protection can do anything within a few hours. They give the order and the county here prints out a new birth certificate."

"I don't know how well she's going to like the name Ingrid." Alex sighed and glanced back at Violet's hospital room.

"You can always change it when you finalize the adoption and change her last name to Romero." Charlotte offered. "Right now, this will give Violet the best chance to live a normal life. Away from the scandal of what's happened. We don't want Glenn Hews to haunt her for the rest of her life. That's not the end game, Alex."

"Right." Alex sighed. "It's what's best for Violet."

"You mean, Ingrid." Charlotte corrected.

 **I based what happened to Violet on the CSI episode "Gum Drops". One of my favorites!**


	120. Chapter 120

120.

~ The rooftop of the hospital was the only place to have privacy and to indulge Violet, now Ingrid, in her request for violin practice. She hadn't protested at all to the idea of a name change or that her life would be uprooted, transformed and relocated to a strange place with people she hardly knew. Then again, she was on a lot of anxiety medication to help her deal with the trauma of what she had endured over the past few days.

She had requested very few items from the Harmon home to start her new life with. Charlotte managed to gain entry to collect them for her without anyone even noticing. Her violin, Vivian's concert violin, her books and sheet music, a few dolls and a shoe box full of letters and cards she had received over the years.

Charlotte had, although not requested, included the family photo albums and some personal items that Ben and Vivian's adopted daughter might want one day. Although these were all things that would have to stay hidden if Violet was to truly start a new life as Ingrid White and become the adopted daughter of Norma and Alex Romero.

A natural solution in the eyes of some, but one that gave Norma pause. It was one thing for Alex to accept her and her two young sons before they even got married. Alex knew what he was getting into then. He knew and accepted that he would be the father figure for two little boys who had no male role model in their lives.

He had married her anyway and gladly adopted her sons, always treating them like his own. Never once entertaining the idea of being called something as alien as a step-father.

Yet, having him adopt her younger sister was different. He didn't sign up for that. He didn't ask to be the father of three kids who weren't his. It wasn't just raising a daughter that wasn't his. It was bringing a potentially traumatized child and all that would come with it into their home. Norman's issues were bad enough to one day need special schooling. This poor little girl would need therapy to overcome what she'd been through.

She was also very smart according to Charlotte. She went to a private school for the gifted and that would cost money. She would go to college in ten short years and that would cost even more money. Money they really didn't have with everything going on. Norma would have to drop out of school herself. Violet, _Ingrid_ , would need all her attention now. Even more so than than Norman. She might even have to be home schooled for a while. The Romero's would need to shelter her, protect her. At least till Glenn Hews was caught. What if Ingrid had to testify in court? What might that do to their family?

All these thoughts were churning in Norma's mind as she rode the elevator up to the roof where she knew she'd find her husband and younger sister. Their usual escape from the nurses.

~ Alex had come back from running an errand to find Ingrid wide awake and Norma passed out on the hospital bed. The young sibling putting a finger to her lips to keep his quite. It was Norma's habit to sleep curled up next to Ingrid since she had been found three days ago. Hardly letting her out of her sight, even in sleep.

"How long have you been up?" he whispered. "It's late."

"Can't sleep." Ingrid mouthed silently.

Alex waved a hand for her to come with him and she carefully slipped out of the hospital bed, pulled on her big sister's oversized house shoes and grabbed her violin case. Alex didn't mind her practicing in the middle of the night and seemed to enjoy her music. He wasn't at all like her other dad. Her other dad, the one she'd lost, didn't enjoy hearing her play and criticized her for the excessive noise and false notes. Alex marveled at her ability to even hold the instrument and took her to the roof where no one would be bothered by the noise.

~ It was windy outside, but Ingrid didn't mind. The air felt good after being in the stuffy hospital all day under her big sister's constant mothering.

"You know we're taking you home tomorrow." Alex said pulling off his leather coat and forcing her to wear it so she wouldn't be cold. She could still feel the warmth of his body coming off the interior of the fabric and wondered why her own dad hadn't ever done something like that.

Ingrid nodded and unlocked her violin case. It still hurt to talk and she used that as an excuse to stay silent. She didn't want to talk anyway. If she talked, she would have to explain things, and she didn't want to explain things.

She took out her violin and started to play a simple piece from memory. Her warm up practice piece and then the harder pieces. Alex listening and not noticing the mistakes she made. He didn't interrupt or hover the way her mom or music teachers did. He appreciated the fact she tried and was halfway good at something.

When she was finished, he gave her a sad smile.

"We don't have too many music teachers in White Pine Bay." he told her. "I don't know if we can find someone to teach you violin when we get home."

Ingrid put a hand to her throat so it wouldn't hurt as much when she talked.

"New instrument?" she reasoned. Alex smiled.

"Your sister plays the piano." he said. "I'm sure she'd love to teach you. Although I think you'd probably master that in a weekend. Maybe you'll be teaching her a few things."

Ingrid smiled at the idea someone thought she was smart enough to teach an adult anything.

Alex nodded but looked overwhelmed.

"I will **try** to find you a challenging music instructor then." he said. "We do have a school for the gifted back home. It's small, but it's very good. Your sister thinks we should home school you for a little while."

"No." Ingrid said. Her throat hurting and she winced. "I miss school."

"Don't talk anymore." Alex said. "Fine. If you want to go back to school, then that's what you'll do. We're going to tell people you were in a car accident. That you're Norma's sister Ingrid and we're adopting you. Do you like the name change?"

Ingrid nodded. She liked it well enough and already started calling herself by her new name in her head. She thought the idea of a new identity was exciting. It was like something she read about in her detective novels. It made her more mysterious somehow. Like her identity would eventually be uncovered when she was much older, by some dashing investigator who was solving a murder in a secluded mansion. Maybe she'd be some rich old lady by then when the secret finally came out and it was shocking to all who knew her that she was really someone else entirely.

"No one can know." Alex warned. "Not ever. Not your best friend. Not even Dylan and Norman. You understand?"

His voice was serious and this wasn't the first time they had had this talk.

"Dangerous." Ingrid said in a raspy voice.

"Right." Alex sighed. "Very dangerous."

Ingrid thought of the red stains in her old house. Of the monster and him finding her, talking to her about things. Of the trees and the feeling like she would die at any moment. What if the monster came back for her like he promised he would? He said he wouldn't let her go. That he would come back for her and kill whoever kept her from him.

"You said he… he won't find us." Ingrid said.

"He won't." Alex said quickly. "I told you what I do for a living. I'm a sheriff. I go after the bad guys. The bad guys hate me."

Ingrid didn't believe him. He didn't seem very scary to her. Alex Romero was very pleasant and kind. Especially with the way he was always smiling and looking affectionately at her older sister. If anyone should be afraid of someone, the bad guys should be afraid of Norma. Her sister was fearless in a way Ingrid could never be. If the monster ever came back, she knew her sister would be the one to kill him.

"I won't let anything bad happen to you. Not ever again." Alex promised.

"There you are." came an accusing voice and Ingrid and Alex turned to see Norma had discovered them on the rooftop.

"You're both going to catch your death out here!" she scolded even though Ingrid was in Alex's heavy leather coat.

"We're fine, Norma." Alex sighed. "She wanted to practice and you were sleeping."

"She doesn't need to practice to badly that she has to freeze to death, Sheriff." Norma told him.

"We're a long ways from freezing to death, Mrs. Romero." Alex said with a shy smile and moved over so that his wife could sit next to him.

Ingrid smiled at the comfortable banter between them. Her parents before, the only parents she ever really knew, never talked like this. They were never this warm and content with each other. Her mother never scolded with good intentions. Her father never took the nagging with such ease. She didn't remember her parents holding hands the way Alex held her sister's hand just now. She didn't remember them looking at each other as if they were truly in love either. Yet, Alex looked at Norma as if he'd never seen anything so wonderful before.

"Play for us." Norma said turning away from her husband's amused smile. It was as though she was embarrassed he was paying attention to her.

Ingrid said nothing and started her simple warm up before returning to her music of choice. The kind she didn't need sheet music for and that seemed to impress her new family.

She liked playing for them because she didn't have to talk. Didn't have to answer questions or describe her ordeal with Glenn Hews. She could pretend to be normal, for a while anyway. In a few days, she'd be in a new town and she could put all this behind her once and for all.

~ "I'm worried." Norma admitted once Ingrid was tucked into her bed and sleeping again.

"You're always worried." Alex accused and gave her a soft smile to show he was teasing.

"Don't joke I'm serious." Norma sighed. "I'm worried about her. About Vi- **Ingrid**."

" **Ingrid** …" Alex reminded her sternly. They couldn't have anymore slip ups like that. "Ingrid is going to be fine. Once she's in a stable environment with an overprotective mother, she's going to put all this behind her in no time. You'll see."

"Alex, she's going to need more than we can give her." Norma sighed. "The Harmons were very well off. They gave her music lessons, private schools and… everything. I know you didn't plan on taking in my sister when you married me."

"We always knew it was possible." Alex reminded her.  
"But we thought it would be more of a visitation. Nothing permanent. Violet… sorry… Ingrid, she's going to need therapy to. What with Norman and all his problems… I just-" Norma shrugged.

"What are trying to say?" Alex asked. "You don't want to take Ingrid home?"

"No, I do." Norma said quickly. "It's just, I know this is more than you bargained for."

"More than I bargained for?"

"Me." she shrugged agin. "I'm more than you bargained for. You didn't just marry me, you got the boys and now… another kid that isn't yours."

She looked guilty and sad all at once.

"Yeah, you're right." he agreed. "I go home to a house full of people who love me and a home cooked meal instead of a lonely apartment with just Graceland for company."

"Alex." Norma sighed. "You could have had-"

"A few years ago, I had nothing. Now, I have my family home back. It's not just rotting from neglect anymore. I'm a husband and a father. Most importantly, I'm happy. I'm all those things because of you. You know that." he reasoned.

"What about the expense? You wanted to send Ingrid to private school? Music lessons? We can't afford that." Norma reminded him. "We're barely making it as it is with the two boys."

"We'll make it work." Alex said. "We will."

She looked doubtful. It was normal for her to be skeptical and think the worst was always going to happen.

"Let's just get her home and get our family settled and wait and see. Ingrid might want to stay in regular school. She might want to do something else besides violin." he said wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm trying Alex." she sighed. "This is all so much to deal with. It feels like a dream."

"Let's just worry about tomorrow. We still have to tell the boys they're getting a sister. How do you think they'll take the news?" Alex teased.

"How well would you take it?" she asked.

 **I know this wasn't the strongest chapter, but it's needed to piece this all together. I'd like feedback on what you'd want to see happen next. Do you want a Normero baby of their own or do you like the story line of the long lost mother returning to Alex's life? We're also going to do a slight time jump soon and this isn't the end of Glenn Hews.**

 **He comes back.**


	121. Chapter 121

121.

~ "To adopt another child, Alex?" Sybil questioned. Her already ancient face turning into a scowl of disapproval.

Romero couldn't help but notice that the old dragon's skin had turned to a paler shade of gray and although her eyes were the brightest of green, there was something missing. A fire that didn't spark as brightly as before.

"You, Norma and Charlotte are the only ones who know who Ingrid really is." Alex sighed. "We don't like to keep secrets from you, Sybil."

"What that poor girl went through sounds horrific." The old dragon fumed. She'd missed work lately and had to stay at home in her father's old study. The same study she'd converted into her bedroom when she didn't want to climb the stairs anymore.

"When I heard the rumors that you and Norma brought home a little girl from California, I thought people were pulling my leg. Someone even told me she looks like Norma's double. People are saying she's Norma's sister and that she was adopted out and the adopted parents died in a car crash. Other people are saying that Norma had a secret daughter no one knew about." Sybil said rolling her eyes in disgust at this last idea.

"Ingrid certainly looks enough like Norma." Alex admitted. "You know how a small town loves gossip."

"Has the girl settled in well?" Sybil asked.

"Well enough." Alex admitted. "First few nights there were nightmares. Norman kept asking when she was going to leave. I don't think Dylan likes the fact that she's smarter than he is. She charges him five dollars to do his homework for him. Have to admit, I was a little impressed by that."

"A father shouldn't have favorites." Sybil pointed out.

"I know." Alex nodded. "She hasn't started school yet, but they've been giving her testes to place her. The school wants to advance her to fourth grade already. Norma and I were concerned about the expense of taking on another child but witness protection is actually settling the estate for the Harmon family. Selling the house and the money will all go into a trust for Ingrid. When she's ready, she'll have a nice college fund. Thanks to Sam's life insurance money George invested for us, so will the boys."

"So what are you so worried about?" Sybil asked. "You think Glenn Hews will rear his ugly head and come after her?"

"Charlotte still hasn't caught him. Ingrid has nightmares about the whole thing. Norma says her behavior is a little odd sometimes." Alex admitted.

"Odd how?" Sybil demanded.

Alex let out a sigh. Family business was family business and should stay that way. Yet, Sybil was family. She'd never kept anything from him so why should he lie to her now?

"Her wounds have healed well enough from the attack but she still won't talk very much." Alex said. "Sometimes, I ask about Glenn Hews. I ask if she wants to talk about it and she says no."

"I would imagine she wants to put it behind her." Sybil nodded.

"Well, then she tells the boys stories about a monster who kidnaps children from their homes. She described a girl having to see dead people. She described in perfect detail how the Harmon family was found. With their throats cut and laid out. Norma and I are worried she saw that." he said.

"If she did, children have seen worse and gone onto live very healthy lives." Sybil pointed out. "As you said, Ingrid is a very bright and articulate child. She is expressing what she was forced to witness the only way she knows how, Alex."

"Do you think she needs therapy?" Romero asked.  
"Only if she acts out violently." Sybil shrugged. "If her experience keeps her from living a healthy life and moving forward. That's always been my view on when to seek professional help."

Alex thought about how Ingrid had behaved over the past month she'd been in her new home. How quickly she'd bonded with him and Norma and how she got along with her new brothers as well as if they were raised together all their lives. Dylan especially seemed pleased to have a counterpart on his level, although it took some getting used to. Norman only saw her as yet more competition for his mother's affection.

Norman would ignore her at first, hoping she would just go away and when she didn't, he was slightly rude to her. Ingrid didn't mind Norman and his coldness towards her at all. She took his autism without explanation and didn't intrude on his personal space or enter his room. These were two of the main components to keep her new brother happy. She didn't tease him or bully him either, but paid as much attention to him as he paid to her at times.

The two of them as indifferent to each other as house cats and this became the way things would always be between them. A peaceful, if uneasy truce.

Dylan was a different matter. All Dylan's life he'd always been the oldest and in charge. Now he had a sister who was just a few months younger, smarter and seemed to take up the attention of not only his mother but his father as well. Dylan didn't like the fact Ingrid was so very special and could do things he couldn't. Yet, at the same time, it was refreshing to have a built in playmate who didn't tease him for being the Sheriff's son or the older brother of 'that weirdo Norman'.

Ingrid and Dylan, though different in many ways that could have been bad, were both savvy enough to know they needed each other in this life. That they could protect each other from bullies and watch out for each other when it came to their parents.

"She hasn't done anything alarming other than tell the boys stories." Alex admitted. "She practices her violin, reads a lot, plays outside with her new brothers and wants to spend a lot of time with Norma."

"Sounds fine to me." Sybil shrugged. "Little Bear, hand me that box there."

The old dragon pointed to a large wooden box in the corner.

"I need to tell you why I called you here today. It wasn't only about Ingrid." she said and held back a cough.

"What's happening, Sybil?" Alex asked. His worst fears were becoming a reality. Sybil Lawson was dying at last. The old dragon was losing her fire and would soon die.

"Doctor says it's my heart." she admitted with a shrug of indifference. "What the hell does he know? I wanted to talk to you about something important while I still have time, Little Bear."

"Did he say you need an operation? What do you have to do?" Alex asked.  
"Let's not talk about that." Sybil snapped.

She took the wooden box Alex had handed her and opened the lid. The papers inside were yellowed with age. All of them brittle and faded from the hand of time.

The Old Dragon looked sad for a moment and handed him a black and white picture of a dark haired newborn. The picture of the infant was obviously from the 1950's and she had a very pouting face Alex recognized.

"Your grandmother Ellie died long before you were born." Sybil said. "Your father was still a young teenager himself and causing Simon so much heart ache. Such a rebellious child."

"Right." Alex nodded. He'd heard the story many times before. That Simon had bought Lucy the year before his precious Ellie had passed away and that he'd never recovered from her loss.

"Little Bear, your grandmother knew her time was coming. She could feel something was wrong a few years before she even became sick." Sybil sighed. "Her last pregnancy was… different. She said she could feel the thing that was wrong with her inside and knew she didn't have a lot of time."

"When she was pregnant with me father?" Alex questioned.  
"When she was pregnant with her." Sybil nodded to the picture of the baby.

Alex looked down at the sulky little face in the picture.

"Your grandmother had another child, and she knew that the cancer was going to take her. So, we convinced Simon to let us put the little girl up for adoption. We felt it was one thing to finish bringing up a teenage boy alone. Two men together is fine, but back then, what was a man to do with a baby daughter and no wife? Times were so different then and Simon was so afraid to do anything without Ellie. It was the right thing to do all things considered." Sybil said.

"Wait." Alex stopped her. "I have an aunt? You never told me? Did you ever tell dad?"

"No, not then. He was told Ellie had miscarried the baby and everyone else in town believed it to." Sybil told him. "A few years later, the cancer came for her and she was gone."

"The baby was adopted? By who?" Alex demanded.

"We don't know. It was a closed adoption." Sybil said. She took a deep breath and seemed to steel herself to tell him more. "But, she found us. Sixteen years later."

"She was here? My aunt was here? What's her name? How can we reach her?" Alex asked. He peered over the box of secrets Sybil had kept hoping for more clues to his long lost relative.

"She went by the name Allison Clark back then." Sybil said catching her breath.

"Allison Clark." Alex breathed. "I have an aunt. I have an aunt named Allison Clark."

He looked at Sybil in amazement.

"What did dad say when he met her?" he asked.  
"Little Bear." Sybil said in a sad tone. "There's more."

Alex waited as the old dragon leafed through letters and finally produced an official looking set of documents.

"Allison was pregnant when she arrived in White Pine Bay looking for her birth mother and father. When she met your father and mother, they had been trying for years to have a baby." Sybil said.

Alex could feel that familiar loss of gravity take hold. That sense of dread when he knew what the old dragon was about to say. It was exactly the same feeling he'd had when Norma had been in the car accident with the boys. Or when he'd seen her with that horrible broken arm. A sense of rage filling him that he couldn't explain.

"Sybil. Tell me you didn't keep this from me. All these years." he said in horror.

"Teressa and Marcus were desperate." Sybil sighed. "Here comes this teenage girl who was an actual blood relation. Who had a baby she couldn't keep. She wouldn't say who the father was except that should couldn't go back home with a child. Her adopted parents thought she was vacationing in Paris with friends."

"Simon?" Alex asked. "His own daughter?"

"Simon never knew she was here." Sybil told him. "He might have tried to talk her out of the adoption. She stayed here with me till you were born and then Doctor Bloch signed the brith certificate and you belonged to your parents. We gave Allison some money and she went back home again to her old life."

"How could you?" Alex asked standing up.

"She wrote to me." Sybil admitted weakly. "She wrote to me sending you birthday cards… for a long time."

The old dragon handed him the wooden box as a peace offering.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Alex demanded. "After you saw what kind of man my father was?"

"Because you are Teressa Romero's son." Sybil told him. "Her son, Little Bear."

"Don't call me that!" Alex snapped and grabbed the wooden box from Sybil's hands. He glanced at the girlish writing on envelopes that were never opened. All love them addressed to simply _Baby Boy_ with Sybil's address. There had to be hundreds of letters and cards never opened here.

"Alex." Sybil said calmly.

"You should have told me." Alex said feeling a deep hurt well up inside him.  
"Will you tell Norman that you shot and killed his father in cold blood?" Sybil asked. "Will you tell Dylan that John Massett signed his rights away so easily? Will you tell Ingrid the gory details of her real mother burning her in a fire?"

Alex looked back at the old dragon who suddenly seemed full of fire.

"No, you'll protect those you love. Just as I have." she said smartly.

~ "My God, Alex." Norma sighed. "To lie to you your entire life."

"Would you tell Dylan the truth? About his father?" Alex asked as they put the letters and cards in order of the post mark date.

Norma looked as though she'd been slapped. They didn't talk about Caleb or his relationship to Dylan. It was like that was all a bad dream and the only man who'd ever been his father was Alex Romero.

It was already past midnight and thankfully the kids had gone to bed leaving the adults to sort out the mess their own parents had left for them.

"I'm sorry." Alex sighed. "All this…" he waved at the papers. "Still a shock."

"Did you try to do a search for Allison Clark on the police database?" Norma asked.

"There are over two hundred Allison Clarks who are roughly the same age." Alex admitted. "And those are just the ones living in America now. She might have gotten married, moved overseas, died."

"Don't think like that." Norma warned.

"The last letter Sybil got for me was when I was fifteen years old." Alex snapped. "She'd written religiously for all that time and then stopped. Sybil didn't move and neither did my parents. If she wanted to see me, why didn't she just come back?"

"Maybe she felt you didn't want to see her. Or that it was a lost cause." Norma offered.

"This is a nightmare." Alex said looking over the neat little piles of letters and cards Norma had organized in their dated order.

"Why don't you read through them and you might have an idea where she's living now." Norma suggested.

"Why can't we just have a normal life?" Alex sighed. "Why is it asking for too much to have a nice boring life instead of this chaos that's always swirling around us?"

"Let's go to bed." Norma sighed and stood up. "We can think about this tomorrow."

Alex carefully gathered Allison Clark's letters and neatly arranged them back into the wooden box he'd gotten from Sybil.

His wife was always his north star. Always the earth beneath his feet.

He surprised himself when he pulled her in to kiss her. Normally, it was their way for her to kiss him first. For her to playfully give him permission to kiss her. He'd always be the dominant one, that was a given, but he was a gentleman first. He never took what wasn't given freely.

Now he couldn't wait for her to grant him permission to kiss him. His lips taking hold of hers as if he was a starving man.

"Thank you." he whispered when he finally broke free and she was trembling. Her beautiful face always so angelic and innocent looking. "For everything."

 **Heard your feedback loud and clear! Normero baby will be in the works. But probably not until the time jump. It will be erotic and a surprise for both of them.**


	122. Chapter 122

122.

 **~ 2 Years Later ~**

~ Ingrid didn't care for the weather in White Pine Bay. True, it was late spring and with the promise of summer was only a few months away, but it was like the coldness in the air never truly wanted to let go.

Her new brothers, Dylan and Norman, didn't seem to mind the chill that was always in the air in the mornings. Didn't seem to notice that the sun didn't exactly want to make an appearance, even in mid day like it did in California.

She knew Oregon would be different, and that living on the coast would be a new challenge, but she had no idea how much of a difference it would be.

Added to the difference in the weather, was the change in school. She, along with her new parents, decided not to enroll her in the private school, but elected to skip the third grade all together and enter the forth. Such a move put her at odds with Dylan because they were so close in age, and made her feel isolated from the older kids in her class as well.

They treated her like a baby because she wasn't interested in the same things the older girls were. She was embarrassed by their constant talk of boys, confused by their obsession with make-up and clothes and generally bored with the entire species of pre-teen girls as a whole.

She'd never really had any close friends because her old family moved around so much, and if it wasn't for her brothers and their friends, she would have been a very lonely child growing up.

~ "Dad told me once that they pulled a girls body out of the bay and the water was so cold it hadn't decomposed." Dylan bragged sliding to a halt on his bike so quickly that he almost tipped right over the handle bars. The ten year old casually tossing the racing bike he'd gotten for Christmas that year into a thicket of tall grass so it would be hidden from view.

Ingrid, never one to mistreat her things, politely stopped her bike beside his and guided it to the large growth of grass where it couldn't be see by passing cars. They were the sheriff's kids after all. Everyone in town knew who they were and they were close to Maggie Summers house. She always kept a watchful eye out her window and wouldn't hesitate to phone their mother, or worse, the Sheriff's office and tell them, just to let them know, what those two kids were up to in the woods. Woods where they didn't belong on a Sunday afternoon.

Ingrid and Dylan had quickly changed clothes after church and raced away before their mother could stop them and before their dad could notice they were gone. They intentionally left Norman behind who was glad to soak up the left over parental attention. Knowing Norman and their mother, they would bake a cake or something together and the two wayward Romero children would receive a lecture about family time when they came home.

"How long was it in the water for?" Ingrid asked following Dylan down the narrow path to meet his gaggle of friends.

Her brother was a champion of making friends and if she had stayed in the same grade as him, she might be popular as well. Although she would be bored even more senseless than she already was by their lesson plans. As it was, she'd finished her homework for the rest of the year by the end of Christmas holiday.

"I forget. I think it was a long time." Dylan shrugged and bravely stepped on a log bridge that connected them to the other side of a small stream. He tested its' weight before waving at Ingrid to follow.

Her mind churned over the idea of a human body being so cold in the bay it wouldn't decompose. She remembered the way her first mother's face had looked after a few days out in the sun. When Glenn had taken her back to see them. To assure her they were really dead.

She shut her eyes tightly at the memory of her old family. How crows had pecked out their eyes and lips. How Glen had made her touch the skin and the way they smelled.

"Ing?" Dylan called. "What are you doing?"

She opened her eyes and realized slowly that she'd stopped right there on the log bridge as if she was about to do a trick. Her arms spread wide and her balance perfect. Her mind thrown backward into the past. Back when that monster would talk to her.

She hadn't seen that monster in two years now, but knew he would come back for her. Knew that he would live up to his promise one day. When she least expected it, he would come. He would kill her new parents and her brothers.

A panic suddenly seized her and she almost lost her balance. She imagined Dylan's face rotting there in the afternoon heat. His lips and eyes eaten away by bugs and he was smiling at her.

She wavered on the log and tried to find her footing before Dylan yanked her roughly to the other side.

"What are you doing, dummy?" he hissed. "Don't act like that in front of my friends."

"Sorry." Ingrid gasped and felt the dizziness go away. "I had…"

"Just be cool. Don't be yourself." Dylan warned. "My friends from scouts will be there and Jeff and Bobby are bringing two girls with them."

"I'm a girl." Ingrid reminded him.  
"You're my sister. You don't count." Dylan rolled his eyes.

~ The two girls in question were Britney and Ashley from Dylan's class. They ignored the boys and Ingrid altogether and talked in a tight huddle with whatever secrets they had to share. Occasionally they would glance over at the boys who seemed just as unwilling to talk to them. Both genders keeping an awkward distance as if they feared catching something.

"Idiots." Ingrid muttered wadding into the shallow tide pool where she could more closely observe the blooming sea life she'd read about in the library. A small pool like this one would have all kinds of things in it. Perhaps even shells or coral.

She was slowly wearing down their dad into letting her have a large aquarium and filling it up with creatures she would find in the bay. Their mother was against the whole idea of any animal in the house except her well behaved dog Graceland. No doubt she was afraid the aquarium would leak and release nothing short of the mythical Kraken in her house. As well as gallons of water onto her clean floors.

However, Ingrid had made the argument that since Norman was allowed to have his rabbits, goats, chickens and other animals in the barn, she should be allowed one measly aquarium in the family room.

She didn't mention how the Sheriff had a retired police dog Graceland who, now that she was replaced on the job by Rocky, sat around the house getting fat and spoiled by their mother all day. Graceland was treated like a pampered baby who's only concern now was when she would be fed and to occasionally sleep with Norman during a bad storm.

Ingrid could hear the boys shouting at each other and laughing. They sounded like they were engaging in a punching contest to impress the girls, when her eyes caught a school of fish and she decided to wade further in to see where they would lead. Her mind still frustrated by the fact she wouldn't ever be friends with girls like Ashely or Britney. That she could never understand their world and they couldn't, or wouldn't, try to understand hers.

"The males of the pack, will try to impress a female by demonstrating brute strength." Ingrid said in a fake english accent. "Lacking the mental capacity of higher evolved creatures, these males are desperate to find any mate that will have them."

She turned around and saw that Britney and Ashley weren't impressed and were still keeping their distance.

Ingrid smiled and turned back to her fish watching.

"Alas, these pathetic males have failed in their attempt to gain favor with the females and are doomed to never mate at all. What a shame." she said with her smug accent.

She felt her feet slipping on some slimy rocks and almost fell into the icy cold water of the tide pools when she saw it.

' _Someone threw a baby doll in the bay._ ' she thought.

~ At first, Sheriff Romero thought he'd heard wrong. Maggie Summers had called him on his direct phone line at the office in a near state of panic.

"Alex!" she cried desperately. "Alex, you need to get over here! You're kids! A baby!"

"Maggie, what's happening?" he demanded and hoped she hadn't called the house first. If Norma knew about whatever was wrong with Dylan and Ingrid, God help them all.

No, Norma was visiting Sybil in the nursing home with Norman that Sunday. They'd baked a cake after Ingrid and Dylan ran off and were on their way there now.

Since the Old Dragon had her stroke two years ago, she'd been under constant private care at the nursing home. Alex only visiting her on the holidays when Norma made him. Reminding him that, even though she'd lied to him all his life about his birth mother, Sybil had always looked after all of them.

Sybil, her mind completely gone from the massive stoke that had failed to kill her, barely knew they were there at all. She looked nothing like the fearsome dragon she'd been before.

"Maggie." Alex barked into the phone when she wouldn't stop crying. "Slow down, what's happened?"

"It's the kids." Maggie gulped back a cry. "I saw them! I saw Ingrid and Dylan. Your kids, you know?"

"Yes, I know them." Alex rolled his eyes. "What's happened?"

"This boy Jeffery came to my house and said they found a body in the bay. To call the police. Alex, they said it's a baby!" Maggie cried.

~ Sheriff Romero had hoped it was an elaborate prank. He'd hoped that when he rolled up to Maggie Summer's house with an ambulance, two sheriff's cars and the angry looking police dog that had replace Graceland, that the kids would admit it had been a lie.

Instead, a skinny kid named Jeffery lead the Sheriff and the other first responders down a narrow path to a secluded section of the bay. Alex had remembered coming here many times in high school and the area had a reputation for being a lover's lane. He'd had his first kiss here and the beach, in the summer at least, was warm, secluded and inviting.

Now, he noticed the pack of kids huddled high on the black rocks well away from the waters. That all their faces looked scared to see the grown ups charging out of the woods and he spotted his own daughter, Ingrid, protectively surrounded by half a dozen children her own age. She'd been wrapped in someone else's coat and her brown eyes were as wide a saucer plates. It was then he knew the thing was true. Ingrid wasn't a liar and didn't exaggerate. She looked terrified and thankful he was there.

"Dad." Dylan shouted running up to him.

Alex put up a hand to slow him down.

"What happened?" Romero asked. The paramedics and other deputies were coming out of the brush now and he wanted his son to remain calm in front of them.  
"Ing." Dylan said. "She saw it. Over there."

He pointed to the large tide pools that were good for wading in. Romero nodded and motioned for Dylan to go back.

"She… we all thought it was a doll." Dylan explained sadly.

Alex had barely reached the tide pools when he saw what Dylan had meant. The baby's body looked exactly like a doll from a distance, yet once it had been flipped over…

Alex turned away and nodded for the paramedics to come and collect the infant.

He knew his face had become that grim, angry thing that scared everyone around him. Knew because the other deputies took a step back and the paramedics avoided eye contact. Even Rocky, who was a lot more fearless than Graceland, whined a little.

"White." Romero said and handed the dog's harness to his first deputy. "Take the dog back and radio the morgue. Tell them we're bringing a body in. Don't elaborate. Then start a walk along the beach. Look for anything… belonging to the victim."

"Tide would have washed away-" White started to argue.

"Just do it." Alex ordered and walked over to the kids.

All of them looked scared to see the infamous Sheriff Romero approach them. No doubt they'd heard rumors about him all their lives. The most innocent being how he'd shot and killed his wife's husband just so he could marry her.

"Kids, go home." Romero said grimly.  
The pack quickly dispersed leaving Ingrid and Dylan alone to face their father. None of their friends wanted to face the Bear or get into trouble for trespassing or finding a body. Romero let them go. Knowing children as he did, they were terrible eye witnesses. Besides, there was only one witness he knew would tell him the truth with absolute certainty and without embellishments.

~ "Dad, I thought she was a doll at first. I wouldn't have touched her if I knew. When I flipped her over, saw what the fish did to her face…" Ingrid shrugged.

"How do you know it was a girl?" Alex asked. "The baby was dressed."

"She had some pink on. No one dresses boys in pink." Ingrid said. "Didn't you notice that?"

Alex shook his head. No, he hadn't noticed the pink on the baby's clothes.

"So you were just wading in the tide pools?" Romero asked. "Didn't see where the... the victim washed up?"

Ingrid shook her head.  
"I wasn't paying attention to the tides." she said. "I guess I should have."

"It's okay." Alex sighed.  
"I thought she was a doll." Ingrid said again. "She looked like Max did. After few days. Maybe she's been dead awhile."

"What?" Alex asked. She'd never spoken of her former life before. Of her adoptive brother Max Harmon. Not in this detail.

"Dylan said bodies in the bay don't decompose quickly. Max…" she shivered. "He looked like that after two days I think. I don't know how long she was in the water. I'm sure it makes a difference. Max was outside in the heat. Crows."

Alex looked over his daughter's face and thought about Norma. How sad they both looked when talking about the past.

"Ingrid." he reminded her in a whisper. "We don't talk about Max."

"I know." she sighed. "I think… maybe this was a warning. Maybe… maybe he's come back."

"He hasn't come back." Alex snapped at her.

Unafraid, Ingrid looked back at him.

"He said he would. They still haven't caught him." she reminded him. Her gaze just a fierce as Norma's.

"Ingrid, this is a tragedy. Most likely, this is a case of a parent who accidentally killed their child. You hear about it in the news all the time. This isn't him." Alex said.

Ingrid was quite for a long time. Her focus back on the tide pool where they had pulled the infant free.

~ The news would eventually break about the infant in the bay, but if it had leaked, Norma Romero hadn't heard about it yet.

She came home from her visit with Sybil and was thankful for her own health. The Old Dragon wasn't doing well these days and wouldn't even look at her or Norman when they talked to her. She'd run a few errands and picked up somethings for dinner before coming home to find a sulky husband and her two oldest children in their rooms. The entire house eerily quite.

"I take it you had a talk with the gruesome twosome." Norma said once Norman had gone to the barn to feed his animals. "I don't like them riding off like that right after church. You know Ingrid has started talking in Ed's sister? Chelsea works as a barista at the coffee shop and Ingrid likes to go there and hang out? That woman even reads Ingrid's tarot cards and everything. You'd think our girl would be smarter than to believe in that."

"Sometimes it's nice to put your faith in something, Norma." Alex reminded her.

She noticed he'd taken out one of the blue stress balls Ingrid had given him for father's day last year. Telling him all about right brain and left brain learning. Something to do with squeezing the stress balls while learning something that affect the right brain or left brain, Norma wasn't sure. Alex only ever used them when he was thinking.

"Alex, what happened?" she asked. It occurred to her then maybe the kids had rebelled or talked back to him. She couldn't imagine Ingrid doing such a thing. Even if she did, Alex liked it when his girls argued or were a little defiant. But she was sure Dylan would be getting to the age now where it was cool to be an ass to his parents. A thing Alex wouldn't stand for.

"How was Sybil?" Alex asked instead.

"Catatonic. Like always. I read to her a little." Norma answered. "I'm sure the staff will love the cake I made."

Alex nodded.

"You know I barely looked over the letters?" Alex admitted. "Those letters she gave me just before the stroke and everything went to hell? We were so busy trying to get Sybil in a nursing home, find a good private care nurse and get Ingrid's adoption finalized, I never did it. Now its' like I don't want to do it."

"You don't have to." Norma reminded him. "If it's only going to bring you more heart ache."

"I just… I want to understand how she could give me up. I know she was young and scared. So were you when you had Dylan." Alex reminded her.

Norma inhaled deeply. She knew what was coming next.

"Would you have given Dylan up?" he asked.

"No." Norma said quickly. She shrugged. "That was my baby. Mine."

She remembered that fierce love she had for her son when he was born. The way an animal feels protective of it's young. An instinct so strong she would have clawed out the eyes of anyone who came near her child.

"I still don't understand." Alex said.  
"Read her letters. Maybe you will." Norma offered.

"A body was found in the bay this afternoon." Alex said without preamble.

Norma sat up a little straiter.

"Who's?" she asked in shock.

"We don't know. Baby girl about six weeks old. Autopsy said someone crushed her skull. She'd been in the water a few days." he said without emotion.

Norma found it difficult to breathe.

"I guess I was lucky." he said. "My mother could have easily have thrown me in the water as soon as I was born. Isn't that what they do to the unwanted children?"

"Alex." she said calmly.

"It's most likely a parent or close family member." Alex said going back to the victim. "That's where we need to start. I wish Sybil was here. She knew all the families. All the ones having troubles. Now that idiot Rodney Hutchinson is running family services and God only knows."

He looked annoyed and his jaw worked back and forth. An old habit of his Norma recognized from long before they were married. He had to have dental work done from all the grinding his teeth had done due to the stress.

"I'm sorry this happened." Norma whispered.

"When we have our own…" Alex said quickly and his eyes flighted over to her before looking away. "I just… I mean when we decide the time is right to have our own… I won't love that child more than the others."

Norma took a breath and held it. She knew what he was getting at. He wanted her off birth control and she still didn't feel ready for a new baby. Perhaps it was the added weight of Ingrid being in their lives, but she wasn't sure she'd ever want to be a parent again. Even if it was what Alex wanted.

"I know." she whispered.


	123. Chapter 123

123.

~ Norma had hoped to return to school after Ingrid was settled with her new family. The girl adjusted well to her new environment and hardly needing the level of attention she and Alex expected for someone who'd lived through such a horrific incident.

However, the stroke that debilitated Sybil Lawson, was much more time consuming and it was clear, she would have to leave school, at least for a while till things settled down. For Norma, still working an easy part time job in the family service office, there was suddenly a larger work load and a new boss to contend with. She was hastily elevated to run the entire records department. Cataloging old files and cases and transferring everything onto the new computers.

For Norma, it felt like she had walked into a neatly sprung trap of full-time, low paying employment she didn't want. She and Alex could certainly use the money she was making. One thing after another kept coming up that proved expensive. Something was always breaking or about to break. The boys needing new things for school and Ingrid taking dance classes as well as music lessons. Then there was the estate lawyer they had to hire to settle everything Sybil had now that she was too sick to speak for herself.

Norma disliked working such long hours. She didn't like that it kept her away from home so much and away from her children and Alex. Most of all, she didn't like being around her new boss Rodney. He was an older man who tried to utilize too much influence over her. Constantly asking about her personal tastes in movies and always finding ways to compliment her clothing and hair in the first few months they had been working together.

When Norma had rebuffed him, after the third time he'd asked her to dinner, he hadn't taken it well. Immediately telling her how her work was unsatisfactory and no one liked her. He'd also made a sly comment about her weight that Norma wasn't sure who to talk to about. Thank God she had her friend James.

"Rodney needs to respect boundaries." Norma complained to her work friend James Finnegan the afternoon after Ingrid's discovery in the bay.

"What did he do now?" James asked.

James Finnegan was like having a gay best friend. One of those men you knew nothing could happen with romantically, and was therefore safe to talk about anything with. He had a degree in phycology and even taught at the local community college twice a week. These days, he spent a lot of his time at family services working with dysfunctional families which is how he and Norma became friends.

Norma knew he was writing a book about troubled kids, but he didn't have that same exploitative feel that Ben Harmon had. He only seemed interested in helping people with real problems. All the same, she wouldn't want him to talk to one of her kids.

"Just asking where I was going to lunch again. If he could take me out to lunch. Wanted to talk about some old movie I mentioned. Being too nice again." Norma said feeling icky when she thought about her sleazy boss Rodney coming onto her. She didn't like the older man and didn't like the fact he was so obviously hitting on her.

"Like he didn't tell me I dressed slovenly last month when it was time for my annual review and it cost me a pay raise." she snapped in irritation. "Now, he just told me I'll be working late again. Which means he's going to try and sweet talk me at some point when we're alone."

"He knows you're married, right?" James asked sipping on his latte and looking pretentious.

"I'm married to the sheriff!" Norma laughed. "He honestly thinks I'm going to cheat on my husband with **him**?"

"You could do better." James agreed with a grin.  
"If I'm going to cheat on Alex, it's going to be with someone way better looking than Rodney." she snorted.

"Well, not that you ever would." James reminded her timidly. "Cheat on your husband, I mean."

Norma glanced at James and caught him looking at her. She knew, although she didn't like to admit it, James was attracted to her. He was always down in the records department because of her. Always wanting to talk to her and go out to lunch with her. Just as friends of course. She hadn't minded because he scared Rodney away and that was always a good thing. The older man seemingly made to feel useless around the much younger, much more educated man who came to do research.

She hadn't minded casual James' flirting because it seemed harmless and he wasn't her supervisor like Rodney. Plus, whatever his feeling were for her, they weren't reciprocated.

"So, tell me what happened with Ingrid. Word around town is she discovered that baby. How is she doing?" James said feeling the awkwardness in that moment of silence and wanting to quickly maneuver away from it.

"I only just found out about it last night." Norma sighed. "Ingrid is… Ingrid. She won't really talk about it and acts like it doesn't bother her. She's Alex's daughter, adopted or not. They're both so stoic all the time, it drives me crazy."

"Maybe I could talk to her." James offered brightly.

"No." Norma said a little too quickly. She didn't like the idea of James talking to Ingrid. About anything. James Finnegan didn't know who Ingrid really was. Knew nothing about her connection to Glenn Hews or the awful murders in California. As far as the official records were concerned, Violet Harmon died with her family and that's how it needed to stay.

"No, we have a doctor we see. Someone we took her to right after the adoption." Norma said calmly.

James looked a little insulted but nodded.

"As long as she talks to someone. Something like that has to be very scary for a kid her age." James said. "Has she had any nightmares?"

Norma didn't like James asking too much about Ingrid.

"Lets talk about something else." she said quickly. "How are your classes going?"

"Typical." James shrugged. "Bunch of kids with no direction wasting their time and money."

"Sounds fun." Norma grinned.  
"When are you going to go back to school? I thought you wanted to get that degree? Maybe you'll be Rodney's boss. Sexually harass him for a change." James said.

Norma rolled her eyes.

"You act like it's the easiest thing in the world, you know that?" Norma said feeling frustrated. "When you got your degree you didn't have a husband, three kids, a house, a full time job and an older relative to look after."

"It's been two years now, Norma. The longer you wait, the harder it will be. Plus if you and the Sheriff have that kid he's been wanting, you'll never go back." James reminded her sarcastically.

"I know." Norma said. "It's just… it never seems to be the right time to go back."

"Kids are settled. Sybil is settled. What's stopping you? Head of record keeping isn't glorious and the pay is shit." James said.

Norma gave him an annoyed look.

"Let's talk about something else." she ordered. "How's your girlfriend?"

"What girlfriend?" James laughed with a sense of self pity.

~ ' _How did Norma do this, day after day?_ ' Alex wondered trying to decide if it was the right time to flip the pancake or not. He'd burned the last few and didn't realize making something as simple as pancakes was so hard.

"Dad, it's not done yet." Ingrid advised. "Why don't you let mom do it?"

"Because your mom isn't home yet and she needs a night off of cooking." The Sheriff said wondering why he hadn't just picked up some burgers on the way home when Norma called to say she would be late.

"Well, I don't want to die from salmonella." Ingrid said. She and Dylan were perched on the bar opposite the stove and watched him cook with less than optimistic faces.

"Salmonella isn't in raw pancakes." Dylan argued.

"It's in the eggs, dummy." Ingrid snapped.

"No, it's not. Ever see the movie Rocky? He ate raw eggs for breakfast. It's how he got all buff." Dylan said defensively.

"Well, problem solved. Dad, Dylan just wants raw eggs for his meals."

"No, I don't."

"It's what your boyfriend eats."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Yes, he is. You love him."

"No, I don't!"

"Stop it." Alex warned when he sensed a classic fight between the two of them start to escalate. No one could pick a meaningless brawl better than Ingrid and Dylan. He dumped the failed attempt at pancakes in the trash and wondered what to do.

"Mom keeps frozen casseroles in the freezer." Ingrid said. "She put one to thaw in the fridge before work this morning just in case."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Alex asked feeling frustrated he'd wasted so much time and energy failing to cook dinner.

Ingrid shrugged.

"Directions are on the post-it on top of the dish." she said.

"Fine. Just for that, you're doing the dishes." Alex told her.

"No, way! It's Dylan's turn!" Ingrid said hotly.

"You heard the man!" Dylan laughed. "You're on clean up!"

"Dylan can help." Alex told her. "Pretty sure I ruined your mother's frying pan. If she asks, one of you did it."

~ Norma was thankful to come home to a valiant attempt at making dinner, cleaning the house and putting the kids to bed.

"Sorry I was so late." she sighed kicking off her shoes and settling down in front of her vanity to start cleaning her makeup off. The long day had sweated away most of her makeup already and she felt hot and tired and hungry.

"It won't happen again." she sighed.

"It's okay." Alex said. "I know that it's been hard to replace Sybil-"

"They haven't replaced Sybil, they just pulled any warm body off the street." Norma said angrily. She hadn't liked the fact she had to put in sixteen hour days a few times this week all because her new boss failed to do his job with the same skill the Old Dragon did.

"Everyone is trying to do their jobs, and his, and it's not cutting it. Plus he keeps getting in the way. He's just awful." she sighed.

She leaned on her vanity table and saw the lines on her face that seemed to grow more and more every day from stress and exhaustion. Her skin becoming weathered and the bags under her eyes darker. It was how her face looked when she was married to Sam. Her face looking older from the unhappiness that was there.

"I just don't know how to make it better." she admitted sadly.

"You can quit." Alex offered. "If it's getting worse. You know you don't have to work there."  
"And go back to working for Hilary?" Norma asked. "We have too many bills for me to quit."

"You can find a better job. I know you hate it there and all those crazy hours he makes everyone work. He's already driven off some of his best social workers and I heard he sexually harassed one." Alex sighed.

Norma glanced at him from the reflection in the mirror. He was doing his usual nightly routine of work reading in bed. His grandfather's leather portfolio holding papers and case files from the office he hadn't had enough time to look at.

"I heard about that." she said meekly.

"I'm just glad you're down in records and not in the family services office. Rumor has it that place has become really bad." Alex went on.

"Is George planning on doing something?" Norma asked innocently. Alex didn't know how Rodney was always making trips to records. He just assumed the new head of family services was slowing all the departments down. She didn't want to tell him because she wanted to handle this herself. If she got her husband involved, it meant she couldn't take care of herself. She wasn't as capable as she always thought. "I mean, he is the mayor and a personal friend of ours."

"When he finds a replacement, I'm sure he will." Alex said. "Till then, Rodney is under contract for the year."

Norma nodded. Figured.

"Any news on the baby Ingrid found?" she asked.

"None." Alex said soberly. "We checked on all new mothers in the county. All of them. All infants are accounted for. We think the parents weren't from the area."

"I think Ingrid needs to go to therapy." Norma said suddenly.

Alex looked up in surprise.

"Has she said anything?" he asked. "She seemed fine today."

"What happened to her in the bay was awful, Alex. She might be traumatized."

"She doesn't seem traumatized. She's been acting like herself."

"You mean she's been acting like you." Norma accused.

"Yeah."

"She's going to therapy. I'll make an appointment with Doctor Edwards tomorrow." Norma said resolutely.

"Fine, but you'll be the one to tell her. She wasn't to thrilled to see Doctor Edwards last time and asked him more questions than he asked her." Alex reminded his wife. "It was like watching an eight year old Hannibal Lector, remember? I think he was a little afraid of her."

"You thought it was funny."

"It **was** funny."

"She's going to therapy. I'm not having Ingrid becoming another Hannibal Lector if I can help it." Norma said.

Alex shrugged.

"Should be interesting." he said.


	124. Chapter 124

124.

~ Alex was expecting their backseat passenger to be less than cooperative, but he had no idea she'd start throwing things.

"Ingrid!" Norma shouted when their daughter angrily tossed one of Dylan's wayward baseball cleats towards the front cab, narrowly missing them.

"Stop throwing things! Your father could swerve off the road and kill us all." Norma said casually putting on her lipstick as though the thought of dying in a horrific car accident didn't bother her in the slightest.

"I already told you I don't need to go to therapy." Ingrid huffed.

"I heard you." Norma said. "We disagree. You've been through a traumatic experience and Doctor Edwards thinks its' good to talk it over with him."

"Well, Dylan went through the same experience." Ingrid argued stubbornly. "Why the hell isn't he here?"

"Because Dylan has no trouble expressing his feeling about what happened." Norma explained confidently.

"You mean he's a whinny cry baby." Ingrid said hatefully.

"Hey, now." Alex reprimanded. He didn't mind the fact they had to drag Ingrid, kicking and screaming, to see Doctor Edwards. It showed that Ingrid had a strong will and he respected that about her. But he agreed with Norma that their girl needed to see a professional about what happened.

"You like Doctor Edwards. Remember you saw him before? Right after you came to live with us." Alex reminded her.

"I liked him just fine but I don't need to see him every time something bad happens and it's not fair that I'm being singled out as having a mental instability. If anything, Dylan and Norman are the mentally unstable ones in this family." Ingrid snapped with a growl worthy of any cornered animal showing its teeth.

"How so?" Alex challenged.

"Last time I checked, I wasn't the one who was too scared to socialize and I wasn't the one who got suspended for bringing dirty magazines to school." Ingrid reminded them.

Norma and Alex exchanged looks.

"Why isn't Dylan coming to therapy for being a sexual deviant and Norman for not being able to look people in the eye?" Ingrid asked.

"You know Norman has a condition." Norma said calmly. "And Dylan isn't a sexual deviant."

"Not yet." Ingrid told her.  
"Alright." Alex interrupted. His tone suggesting they would soon be done with this conversation. "Ing, Doctor Edwards isn't cheap and our insurance only pays for a small percentage of his fees. I want you to make the most of your time with him. He said that people with very high intelligence, which is **you** , are much more prone to depression than average kids. Which is Dylan."

"Yeah, I know. Dumb kids are happy." Ingrid hissed under her breath.

"So…" Alex said harshly. "You're going to talk to Doctor Edwards about your feelings. He knows about what happened to you before, remember, so I don't want you to hold back."

~ Ingrid had talked to Doctor Edwards alone this time. She knew he wasn't a child phycologist, but he had agreed to treat her because she had such good communication skills for such a young person and because her case was so interesting.

Secretly, although she never told her parents this, she suspected Doctor Edwards was plotting to write a book about her. She'd read up a little about Glenn Hews and the fact that he remained at large all this time was fascinating to many. A child killer who murdered his entire family when he wasn't much older than she was now.

"Your parents told me what happened." Edwards said in that calm, gentle voice of his. Ingrid had to wonder if they taught him that in medical school. If it was apart of his bedside manner and if he had to practice it.

She didn't think so. She guessed it came naturally to him and maybe that's why he became a doctor. Maybe it made it easier for people to talk to him. To have that soothing voice that was nurturing and comforting.

"It was in the paper. What happened." Ingrid said with a neutral expression.

"Finding something like that must have been upsetting." Doctor Edwards said sympathetically. "Especially it being a baby."

"Why would a baby make it any more or less tragic?" Ingrid asked honestly. "I mean, is it less sad if she had been an old person?"

"Perhaps because a baby is defenseless. It's a new and fragile thing. Hasn't had a chance to grow and become something." Doctor Edwards explained easily.

"What if the thing that baby became was someone really bad?" Ingrid asked. "Like a serial killer?"

"What if it became something good?" Edwards asked.  
"Another thing I don't understand." Ingrid confessed. "Why does everyone keep calling her 'it'. They never want to use gender assignment. They say 'that baby' or 'the victim' or just 'it' which is the worst one of all. Why?"

"Perhaps to divorce themselves from the emotional aspect of what happened." Doctor Edwards said. "It's upsetting to people to learn such a horrible crime has happened."

"We don't know it was a crime yet." Ingrid said defensively. "We don't know if she died from SIDS or some kind of accident that was no one's fault. We don't even know her name yet."

"True." Edwards admitted.

"So, we shouldn't judge how she got there." Ingrid reminded him.

"Its good that you feel protective of her." Edwards said with a little smile. "I think it's very healthy that you want to look after her."

Ingrid felt like she'd been slapped at the accusation.

"I don't." she said. "I don't feel that way. She's dead. She doesn't need to be looked after anymore."

"Your dad… thinks you may have seen your other family, post mortem. During your time with Glenn Hews." Edwards offered. "Did this incident trigger any memories? Things that were upsetting?"

"We're not going to talk about that." Ingrid said with an icy voice and could feel the walls inside her springing into action. Her defenses coming into play like a highly trained guard protecting the castle of her emotions. She felt her memories becoming dark and shadowy again. Protecting themselves from the light Edwards was trying to shine on them. He wanted to expose her. See into the darkness. That untouchable realm she and Glenn shared and that could never be understood by an outsider.

"Don't you ever ask about that again." Ingrid warned.

"I thought we were ready to finally talk about this." Edwards asked. "Your dad said you mentioned Max."

"Who's Max?" Ingrid asked pretending like she didn't see her brother with his eyes and lips pecked out from crows and field rats.

Edwards looked a little defeated and changed the subject to school. Ingrid keeping her answers terse and simple. The way Alex Romero would respond to someone he didn't like but had to talk to just the same.

Whenever Ingrid felt she was in distress, she didn't follow Norma's tactics of growing angry and attacking with fast, raw, savage beauty. She wasn't the tiger her mother was. Instead, she adopted Alex's manner of handling stress. She remained cool, indifferent and intimidating. Answering questions with questions, never showing anger and never showing her real thoughts.

She wasn't a tiger. She was bear, waiting calmly for the right moment to attack. Waiting for perfect, unsuspecting moment to attack when she could do the most damage with the least amount of effort.

~ "I don't think therapy went well." Alex admitted once they were home again. It had been a long car ride home and their daughter, who was normally pleased to have her parents all to herself, hadn't said a word the entire car ride home.

"We had to try, Alex." Norma sighed. "She's obviously having trouble sleeping and her teachers are worried. She's never made less than A on anything. Its' like she made a C on purpose. Then she didn't want to go to dance class. These are calls for help."

"People know that she was the one who made the discovery, she probably didn't want to answer their questions." Alex said defensively.

Norma rolled her eyes. Ingrid could do no wrong in his eyes. Ever. The two of them always got along and agreed on almost everything. They were far more alike than him and Dylan sometimes. Both Ingrid and Alex could have a very dark and cynical attitude about the world. The only difference was that Ingrid could be far more sarcastic about it.

They liked being around each other in the same way two grumpy old men liked to complain together. Pessimism was always more fun when shared.

"Well, she 's going back." Norma said stubbornly.

"Come on, Norma." Alex sighed. "We both know she's too smart for Doctor Edwards. Maybe, just give her some time. She'll work it out on her own."

"We don't know that." Norma snapped eagerly. "We don't know if she's been able to put what happened with that psycho behind her."

Alex looked ready to argue but didn't.

"She was young, I know, but who knows what happened and who knows how it affected someone like Ingrid." Norma argued.

"Fine." Alex agreed. "We can take her back to Edwards. I don't think it will do much good. If our girl makes up her mind, then that's the end of it."

He seemed a little proud that Ingrid was too smart to benefit from therapy.

"She's so **stubborn**." Norma said in frustration. "She just has to have her way. Wonder where she got that from?"

Norma missed Alex's surprised look at her question.

~ Upstairs in the bathroom, inside the large cast-iron tub, Ingrid and Dylan were curled face to face as though they were twins sharing their mother's womb. Their ears pressed close to the drain in the tub listening to everything their parents were saying downstairs. The old pipes of the farm house faithfully carrying sounds to them as good as any telephone.

They waited until the sounds of their dad going outside could be heard and their mother going to their bedroom made the house fall silent and still.

"What did mom mean by 'that psycho'?" Dylan asked sitting up.

He was reluctant to get out of the large bathtub and enjoyed the feeling of being cocooned here. It was where he and Ingrid could be themselves and share secrets. As much as they fought and as little as they had in common, Ingrid was a valuable alliance to have in life. She covered for him at school without being asked and easily lied to their parents to protect him. For some reason, adults always believed her over him. As if she was incapable of lying when she was just really, really good at it.

"How the hell would I know?" Ingrid wrinkled her nose in a way that reminded Dylan of their mom when she was disgusted at something.

"Was it with your old parents? The ones who died in that car crash?" Dylan asked. Ingrid always told him things here. Sometimes outrageous lies, but never did she just clam up like she did now.

"You're not supposed to ask me about that." She said spitefully. "I'll tell mom you're upsetting me. You'll get grounded."

"Come on." Dylan said with a smile. "I've done way more stuff to upset you."

He felt a little bad when he saw that her expression was sad looking and she seemed to be staring at nothing. He remembered when his mother used to have that look. A long time ago when things were always bad and scary. Back before they came here and she had married Alex.

"I'm sorry." Dylan said.

"For what?"

"I should have been the one. To have… you know, found it." he said.

"Stop calling her an **it**." Ingrid snapped. "I'm sure she had a name and it wasn't **'it'**."

"Dad says you can't think of victims personally if want to remain objective in the investigation."

"We're not investigating anything." she reminded him. "You're not a cop."

"Not yet."

"Mom won't let you be a cop."

"Dad will. He's in charge around here."

"No, he's not! Mom's in charge. Are you new?" Ingrid asked wrinkling her nose again.

"When I'm eighteen I can do what I want. I'm gonna join the Marines like dad did and be a cop." Dylan argued.

"Mom won't let you join the Marines."

"She won't be able to stop me."

"That's what you think." she teased.

"That's what I **know**." he said angrily.

"You only want to be a cop because you think girls will like you, but girls don't like you and they **never** will." Ingrid told him hatefully.

"Well, none of the boys like you!" Dylan told her.

"That's relief." Ingrid said indifferently and Dylan felt as if he'd lost some sort of important battle.

His sister didn't care about boys or even other girls liking her. She didn't seem to mind the fact they all laughed at her for wearing her backpack like a nerd or dressing a little different. None of the things that mattered to him, mattered to her at all.

Secretly, he wished he could be like that. Going through the halls of school and not caring about what other people thought or said. But Ingrid **should** care. Didn't she know she'd never be popular? Didn't she want friends besides him and Norman?

"Don't you ever want to be normal?" he asked honestly. She looked back at him with her large brown eyes that were clearly shocked she wasn't thought of as normal.

"It's not normal the way you are sometimes, Ing. You know?" he told her. "You never want to make friends. You never want to do normal stuff."

"I went to the bay with you didn't I? Look what happened." she reminded him.

"That's not what I mean. Between you and Norman, I feel like I'm the only normal kid in this family."

"Maybe Norman and I are normal and you're the one who's defective." Ingrid offered helpfully.

Dylan rolled his eyes.

"You don't care that the other kids laugh at you?" he asked.

"No."

"It doesn't bother you that you have no friends except for me and Norman?" he asked. "I mean we're your brothers, we shouldn't be your only friends."

Ingrid shrugged.

"Never really liked anyone enough, I guess." she admitted.

"You don't have to like 'em."

"Of course you do. It's a waste of time to be friends with people you don't like." Ingrid said in shock.

"You just don't get it." Dylan sighed and stepped up out of the tub.

"I guess not." Ingrid agreed.

"So you're really not going to tell me what mom meant when she said something about a psycho and you not being over it?" he asked.

She shrugged.

"Fine." Dylan said and left her alone.

~ Alone in the upstairs bathroom at last, Ingrid could think and not have to cloud her thoughts with the chatter and questions of others.

She knew exactly who her mother was talking about when she mentioned 'that psycho' and was surprised that others thought of him that way. She never thought of Glenn Hews that way. Yes, he was bad. She knew he was a killer, but she never thought of him as crazy or without a conscience. Apart of her always thought those people had to die because they'd done something wrong.

Glenn had always told her this was so and she'd believed it. That she'd been spared because she was innocent and that he'd come back for her one day.

She wondered, sitting alone in that empty bathtub, if Glenn would spare her this time. If he would spare her new family.

Or, if everything would play out like before and the floors would be stained red. If she would be made to see her parents, Norman and Dylan laid out in the field. Dead and with their faces eaten away. If she would be made to join them, or if she would be stolen away forever.

 **Sorry I haven't been able to update as regularly as I would like. My new job is great but I now work weekends and outside massages are keeping me pretty occupied to. I'll try hard to keep updated.**

 **There is Normero Erotica coming very soon. Fan request. I know it's been awhile but I had to lay down the foundation for Ingrid's character.**

 **I based her character on Violet Harmon from ASH: Murder House of course. I feel like Alex and Violet really would have gotten along famously. I'm wrapping this story up soon. There will be another time jump and we will meet Norma's mother and Alex's real mother.**

 **The goal of this story was to provide a happier, more stable life for Norma, Dylan, Alex and especially Norman so that the tragedy of Bates Motel could be corrected and no one we love dies. So think of the end goal of them being at a large dinner table, like Norma always wanted, and having a nice dinner together as a family. None of the tragedies that made Norman what he became happened and Norma and Alex are happy.**


	125. Chapter 125

125.

~ Sybil suddenly died on a Tuesday afternoon. Norma had visited her the day before and thought she saw a glimmer of recognition in the Old Dragon. When she spoke about Alex and the children at home, about the state of the office without her, she thought she saw that fire in her eyes again. Alex and her work were things that were always of interest in rousing the old woman so she would at least pay attention to her visitor.

Norma had left thinking that Sybil might just recover given enough time and attention. That she would never again be as fearsome as she had been, but she might at least talk again.

What she had seen was the last good bye from the Old Dragon. One last flare of fire before her spark died forever. It was Alex who had gotten the call when Norma hadn't picked up at work and he'd been left feeling startled that something as ordinary as death could befall the great Sybil Lawson. He'd always believed that Sybil would never die. That she was indestructible as steel.

"No, I understand." he said over the phone to the nurse who had called her. "Yes, the funeral home will pick her up. I'll meet them there. Thank you."

Not sure of what to do next, knowing he was still at work and had two deputies waiting for him in his office, he said a hasty goodbye.

"Sheriff?" White asked.

Romero shook his head.

"It's nothing. What did you find?" he asked.

"Alice and Tom Tillman. Their car was found two hours ago outside the barrier on North Point ridge. That really dangerous curve near the bay. We had a lot of accidents there in the 60's. It's still dangerous, especially when it's raining." White said.

"I know it." Romero nodded.

"They had California plates and their bodies were still inside the car. Car was submerged in the water and we also found a car seat in the wreckage. The Tillman's had a one year old daughter named Cassy. They were reported missing a week ago by their family." White explained tactfully.

"The infant in the bay my daughter found." Romero sighed.

"We think so. We're moving the bodies now to have dental comparison. We need to get your permission to notify the families." White said.

Romero sighed. It was an accident. A terrible automobile accident, and not some heartless person killing their child and dumping the body in the bay.

"Do it." Romero said grimly. "I need to take the rest of the day off. Sybil Lawson just died."

~ "I guess its' good." Norma said with an ire of frustration. "She's not suffering anymore."

She pulled off the boxy, vintage looking black dress she'd worn to Sybil's funeral and hung it carefully back up in her closest.

She hadn't taken the news of Sybil passing as calmly as Alex had. She had hoped against hope the Old Dragon would recover. She wasn't sure how to do things without Sybil and wished she could just talk to someone like her again. Sybil would know how to handle any situation with flare and brashness that Norma wished she had.

It seemed very sad that they had held a private funeral for such a long standing resident in the town. Ed Warren had given a very lovely speech about Sybil's life and her family's long history of public service. Then, almost rudely, the grave attendants had opened the family crypt and neatly placed Sybil's coffin inside with her parents and long dead siblings. Then it was sealed up forever. The last of the Lawson family was gone.

"We knew it going to happen." Alex said. He was grumpily puling off the tie he hated wearing.

Norma, still in her black dress slip, sat on the edge of their bed and sulked.

"I don't know. I just, I didn't ever picture her dying." she admitted. "She was always so strong."

"I know." Alex nodded. His wife saw the flash of sadness cross his face. Sybil was more than a long time family friend to him. She'd taken care of him when his home life was too much. Sybil had always taken care of him and her to. Ever since she'd come to White Pine Bay with nothing.

"Kids alright?" Alex asked pulling off the black jacket of his formal suit. Norma had bought him that suit, shirt and tie for these occasions because, as much as she loved her husband, she didn't trust his fashion sense.

"Ingrid really didn't know her." Norma shrugged. "Norman isn't expressing how he feels. Dylan is sad. I think he really liked Sybil."

"The boys were so young when they first met her." Alex said with a faint smile of remembrance. "Everything was so different then."

Norma grinned at him a little. Remembering how she'd first met Sybil and first gotten to know him.  
"If you knew then, what you know now." she teased.

"What? I would have shot Sam sooner and married you quicker?" Alex asked with a rare and playful smile of his own.

"Probably." Norma laughed.

Alex nodded and came to sit next to his wife on the edge of the bed. His hands interlacing with hers as they always did when he needed to feel close to her. Her hands and fingers always seeming to fascinate him even after all this time.

"I think everything turned out alright." he mused almost shyly.

"You think so?" Norma challenged with an amused smile. His tiger always wanting to torment him slightly. "You think everything's going to be alright?"

"Maybe." he said as if he couldn't care less. His smile suddenly blooming in a way it hadn't for the longest time. "Yeah, we're going to fine, Norma."

She felt his infectious grin reach her and it was like a spell had been broken. A sort of sadness since Sybil had admitted the truth about Alex's real mother and her stroke afterwords.

As much as they loved their cherished friend, it felt like they were finally free of the past.

~ "Alex, we looked for a will. We searched Sybil's office right after her stroke for her insurance and her will." Norma said in near disbelief. "We… I mean…"

Alex sighed and read over the letter again.

"It's some lawyer in Portland." he explained. "I guess Sybil wasn't planning on being mentally incapacitated like she was. She had a will with them."

"Well, we still don't know what to do with her house." Norma sighed in frustration. "I haven't had time to clean it either and I'll be glad that someone else can take it off our hands. One less electric bill to pay."

"Well, you're not going to like this then." Alex said avoiding eye contact with his wife.

"What?" Norma demanded.

"According to the will, Sybil named me her only heir." Alex said. "She left me everything. Including the house."

"What?" Norma barked. "We're just learning this **now**? Where was this law office when we were trying to get her into that nursing home?"

"Calm down." Alex said quickly.

"Remember how stressful that was?" Norma went on. "We looked through all her papers in that office for her insurance to, Alex and it took forever to find it. Why didn't we find this will and law office?"

"Because she set it up when I was only five." Alex said quickly.

Norma felt slightly winded at the idea that a will had existed for more than thirty years and lay forgotten.

"Oh." she said humbly.

"The good news it that as soon as her estate is settled, you can quite your job." Alex said soberly. "Go back to school if you want. The lawyer thinks it will only take a month or so."

"She left us enough to do all that? Are you sure?" Norma asked skeptically.

Alex showed her the impressive figure listed under Sybil's estate holdings, including her house.

"Oh." Norma said. Her brain rejecting the sum out sheer shock.

"Looks like we can put Ingrid in that gifted school after all." Alex said. "Send her to any ivy league she wants."

"Alex." Norma breathed.

"We could sell Sybil's house. I don't know. Her family has lived there forever. It's nicer than this one." He mused looking around their living room.

"We're not moving." Norma said defiantly. "It took forever to get this house the way I want it and I'm not starting over."

"Alright." Alex nodded. He wasn't foolish enough to argue.

"Alex, we don't have to worry about money anymore?" Norma asked still in shock. The concept was so foreign to her. She'd always worried about money. Ever since she was a little girl, she knew money was important and was careful about how she spent it. Now, she didn't have to worry about it. It was too good to be true. It was an elaborate joke of some kind.

"The school year is almost done." Alex told her. "Probate will be over by the time it is and I was thinking we should send Ingrid and Dylan to summer camp. Maybe have Tom and Tess take Norman for a few weeks. He feels comfortable and safe there. Graceland can go with him and I can take a couple of weeks off work to."

"Summer camp?" Norma asked with a wide smile. She always wanted to go to summer camp as a child. Such a thing was out of the question of course. Those were for rich kids. Not for Norma Calhoun.

"Just for or a few weeks." Alex said quickly. "Give us some alone time. We can pretend don't have kids."

"Canoeing, hiking, camping under the stars, and singing by a camp fire?" Norma smiled widely. "Ingrid will **hate** that!"

"Yeah, we can send Dylan to a performing art camp. One for musicals and poetry." Alex nodded cooly.

"He'll be so **miserable**!" Norma said in sheer delight.

Alex grinned in a way that made her heart dance with butterflies. It was a feeling she hadn't felt in an agonizingly long time.

"Alex, this is such a surprise." she breathed. "I can't believe this."

 **I know this is a short chapter but I was off today.**


	126. Chapter 126

126.

~ Ingrid, ever the observant one in the family, noticed the change in her parents long before her brothers did. Perhaps it was because of her high intelligence or maybe it was because she was a girl, and more perceptive than the males in her family.

It started off with her mother smiling a lot more. Her parents always whispering in the kitchen together and how they would immediately stop talking when she or her brothers entered a room.

Dylan and Norman were oblivious to the changes, but Ingrid noticed her parents seeming to gravitate towards each other in a way she hadn't seen before. Almost as if they were a couple of high school sweethearts who couldn't stand to be separated for more than an hour.

Aside from their mother's constant giggling and their dad smiling more and more each day, there was a definite change in their physical behavior. Ingrid noticed they embraced each other more than they used to. Their mother no longer putting her arms protectively over her chest in a way that closed her off. Then, there was the very obvious situation of their dad's wandering hands. The moment their parents hugged and kissed, Sheriff Romero wasted no time at all in letting his hands wander down his wife's back and then comfortably resting them on her bottom.

An action that aroused suspicion in Ingrid. Why were they suddenly so happy and affectionate? Their mom had just quit her job and announced she would be spending more time at home with them. Something that made Norman happy but gave Ingrid and Dylan pause. Didn't they need the extra income? What was happening? And why the hell were their parents smiling so much lately?

~ The answer came a few weeks later when Ingrid and Dylan were unpleasantly surprised with news that they would be attending separate summer camps that were far away from home.

"Son, they'll be rock climbing and horse back riding. You know you'll be the only one in your class to have climbed a mountain." Sheriff Romero said. "Lots of camping and even white water rafting."

"Why can't I just stay home?" Dylan complained. "They guys and I were going to play video games all summer."

"You just answered your own question." their dad said smartly. "I don't want you home all summer in front of a TV."

"Writer's camp?" Ingrid asked skeptically. She had held off from her own misgivings until Dylan had reacted out of instinct and been rebuffed. It was the strategic thing to do and she reasoned from her father's stinging reaction that there was no use arguing. Now was the time for her to negotiate.

"They don't just have creative writing, but art and all kinds of things." their mother said helpfully as Dylan sulked and whined.

"I don't really draw or write." Ingrid shrugged.

"You want to go to Dylan's camp?" their dad said when her brother said he wasn't going to go.

"No." Ingrid said wisely. She defiantly didn't want to be in a world with no hot showers, flushing toilets or electricity. This creative arts camp at least had housing.

"It's going to be fun." their mother said brightly.

"Why does Norman get to stay?" Dylan complained.

"He's going to be with Tom and Tess over the summer." their mother told him. "They're getting older and Norman will help them around the farm a little."

"That's bull shit!" Dylan protested.

"Hey!" Sheriff Romero snapped at his oldest. "You're going to a nice summer camp and that's final."

"Ing, what do you think?" their mother asked.

Ingrid looked at her father glaring at Dylan and decided this was her chance to earn more points as the favorite.

"I guess it could be fun." she admitted looking over the brochure.

"It will be." their mother said with a big smile again.

"It's not forever." their father added.

~ Sheriff Romero had driven their son, almost kicking and screaming, to the rustic summer camp six hours away. Once there, he'd reported back that Dylan already loved it. That he met a girl his first day and was learning to navigate a river for some big trip they were taking.

"Ingrid, it's not the end of the world." Norma reminded the sullen girl next to her on the drive to Ingrid's writing camp.

"I know." Ingrid said. "I know you and dad need your alone time."

Norma glanced at the girl in the passenger seat. They had never had the sex talk because Ingrid seemed to already know about such things. She wasn't like her brothers who depended on the grownups for guidance on everything. Ingrid learned things for herself, from resources Norma could only imagine.

"Well, we do." Norma said eyeing the road for her turn off.

"Are we rich now?" Ingrid asked.

"Why would you say that?" Norma laughed.

"You quit your job, bought a new washing machine and you're sending us each to a summer camp that's really expensive." Ingrid said in that cool logic that reminded her of Alex.

 _'_ _Tell me how she's not really Alex Romero's daughter.'_ Norma thought again. It was so bizarre that Ingrid looked exactly like her and acted exactly like him sometimes. It was like an alternate universe had ripped open where Ingrid was really their blood child and had somehow managed to find them again.

"Sybil left us taken care of." Norma said vaguely.

"How taken care of?" Ingrid asked.

"Don't worry about it." Norma snapped. "Just worry about having fun at camp and making new friends."

"I'm not good at that." Ingrid said. "And I don't like being away from you and dad."

"Why not?"

"I always feel safe… I mean… I just know dad wouldn't let anything bad happen to me again. If I'm at this camp, alone…" Ingrid said cryptically.

Norma glanced at her daughter.

"Ing, that man… isn't coming back. You know that. Charlotte thinks he's most likely dead. No one has seen him since… in two years now." she explained.

Ingrid was quite.

"Even if he did come back, Alex would stop him. I know you heard the rumors about your dad." Norma sighed.

The legend of Sheriff Romero had grown over time with the arrests of wife beaters, drug dealers and it didn't hurt his reputation as a general bad ass that he'd shot and killed Sam Bates all those years ago only to marry his widow.

"Yeah." Ingrid said. "All the kids in school are afraid of him and think he's really mean to us."

"Right." Norma smiled. She knew a mean father from her own childhood, and Alex was far too soft hearted to his kids to fall into that category. He let them, especially Ingrid, get away with murder.

"Your dad wouldn't let anything happen to you." Norma said.

"That's what Chelsea Warren said."

"What?"

"Chelsea? She works at the coffee shop? Pastor Warren's sister?"

"I know who she is." Norma snapped. She was always a little annoyed that out of all the kids her own age, Ingrid had chosen a grown and troubled woman to be her best friend and to share confidences with.

"She said Sheriff Romero is a bad ass and that if Glenn Hews comes back, that he'll put him down really quick and not even bother to report it. Just bury the body." Ingrid said plainly.

"You told Chelsea Warren about Glenn? About who you really are?" Norma gasped.

"No. She recognized me in a news article about him. Saw the book my dad… my old dad, wrote and followed up. She's interested in serial killers. Then she saw my picture and figured it out. She's always known." Ingrid shrugged.

Norma gaped at her daughter. Why hadn't she or Chelsea said anything?

"What else do you and Chelsea talk about?" Norma asked. It was so rare for Ingrid to open up, she felt jealous of Chelsea Warren now.

Ingrid shrugged.

"She tells me a lot about when she lived in San Fransisco. She reads my tarot cards. She never asked me about what happened." Ingrid admitted.

Norma and Alex had long ago given up trying to extract information about what had happened to Ingrid during her missing week. The young girl would simply shut down and glare at them like a robot if they tried too hard.

"Oh." Norma nodded.

"Are you and dad going to have a baby?" Ingrid asked suddenly.

"What?" Norma snapped.

"I overheard you talking and dad saying something about wanting a son and you wanting a girl."

Norma glanced away from her daughter and focused on the road. Her face flushing slightly. The only times she and Alex talked about such things were when they thought they were alone.

"Um… we are thinking about it." Norma admitted at last. "How would you feel about it?"

Ingrid shrugged.

"Its' fine." she said. "I think dad wants his own kids and not just ones he was forced to take on."

"Ingrid." Norma said calmly. "Alex was never **forced** to take you or your brothers. He always wanted to be a father, to all of you. When I met him, he knew I was a mother first. That I wasn't going to give up my kids. When we learned about you we wanted to adopt you right away but felt that you were happy with the Harmons. Alex was alone for a long time and he's happier with a family."

"When you have another baby, he's gong to love it more." Ingrid said sadly.

"That's not true." Norma insisted. "How could he love anything more than he loves the three of you?"

~ Ingrid had still seemed troubled when Norma dropped her off at summer camp. She was surrounded by brainy, artistic and thoughtful children like herself. Just looking around, Norma felt she would at last make friends.

The idea that Ingrid had such complex relationships with adults outside of the family and that she worried about no longer being the favorite in Alex's eyes troubled her. She and Alex had long talks about having a baby. Alex indeed wanted a son and it did tickle Norma's mind that if he got what he wanted, would he not be as attentive to Norman and Dylan anymore?

He'd always treated Dylan as his own from the start. Giving the child praise and boundaries where needed. With Norman, unsure of how to handle his autism, Alex had deferred to Norma's parenting and insisted only that her youngest not be so dependent on her. A tactic that payed off with Norman becoming more independent everyday.

Ingrid, had every right to worry that Alex's attention would be diverted if they had a child that was all their own. It was all well and good to adopt, but nothing could replace that primal bond of blood.

A person who had not just his name but someone who looked like him. Someone who would be his actual family. She had been so lost in thoughts she had arrived home without remembering the trip at all.

It felt so odd and unreal to have a totally empty house. The noises of active children always made the place feel more normal. Now that was gone and she felt a little lonely with only Graceland for company while they waited for Alex to come home.

"It's going to be okay." Norma told the dog who was lazily stretched out on the sofa.


	127. Chapter 127

127.

~ Alex would be working late that night and Norma soon grew bored after she'd finished laundry and cleaned up a little. Without three, very active, children and two dogs to slow her down, it was amazing how effortless the homework had become. She'd even started dinner and wondered what else to do now that it was growing dark.

Normally, Ingrid and Dylan would be loudly tackling homework at the kitchen bar while Norman quietly played in the living room. He was always careful to stay well away from too much activity and with Ingrid and Dylan's constant bickering, Norma understood why he sought the peace and quite of his own solitude. She sometimes wished she could join him when he went to his own mental escape. A world that was all his own. His own private island where the outside world didn't touch him at all. She had no idea where he went, when he was in his own mind, but she never had any real trouble getting him to resurface into the real world.

It was a sad, lonely feeling knowing that her house was suddenly so empty and would be for the next eight weeks of summer. It was something she and had Alex looked forward to, this well deserved alone time together, but without the ruckus of their family, Norma felt lost. She couldn't remember a time when she didn't have children to look after. She'd been a mother at the tender age of seventeen and Norman needed so much looking after. Now that her children were away from her, she felt that there was too much time on her hands and she had no idea ow to fill it.

Alex kept the car keys for his beloved Lucy hidden in his desk drawer and it occurred to Norma that she had never driven the massive machine herself. She'd gone with him for romantic midnight drives a few times when the kids were asleep, but Alex was always the driver.

This nights they would turn the radio up as loud as it would go and Alex would brazenly propel Lucy into town despite her registration and license plate being thirty years out of date. He was practically daring a local cop to pull him over just so they could try and give a traffic ticket to the sheriff.

However, everyone in town already knew Lucy since she'd started making very famous appearances again in the small veteran's day parades. Alex driving her with the kids in the back seat, waving and happy at all the attention the crowds were giving them simply for being in such an impressive and old car.

 _'Why not?'_ she smiled and turned the oven down to low so as not to burn the roast she was making. It would be a few hours this way and she didn't know how long Alex would be at work.

Her husband kept Lucy under a big, heavy painters tarp in the barn and Norma had to struggle to pull it off and prop open the barn door just to drive the mammoth car out. Lucy's engines roared to life after the first turn, indicating Alex had taken very good care of his grandparents prized car.

Feeling slightly giddy at the prospect of taking Lucy without asking, Norma grinned and turned the large steering wheel that took an unusual amount of strength.

 _'Never thought I'd miss power steering so much.'_ she decided and realized again this car had no seatbelts. All those times she'd allowed Alex to drive the kids around the farm, and in town, in this death trap. Never once thinking it might be too dangerous because he was behind the wheel and nothing bad could ever happen when they were with him.

She'd always felt safe with him no matter what they were doing.

Lucy bolted like an eager race horse out of the barn, and Norma clumsily fumbled for the brakes and tried to turn her large wheel, narrowly missing a large tree.

"Shit!" she cried in near panic as the blue and white tank slowed down at last.

Norma tried to settle her fear of crashing Alex's beloved car and decided there must be a certain way to handle this beast she wasn't used to.

"He makes it look so easy." she huffed in irritation gently stepping on the gas and silently praying Lucy wouldn't kill her. She wasn't sure how people in the 50's drove such a car. It was difficult to control and Lucy seemed to want to take off without her. The car was like a grounded teenager who was freed at last to go out on a Friday night.

"No wonder men love you." Norma said angrily feeling the car want to coast along the driveway at too high a speed. She could feel the sheer power of its' engine under the hood and knew that was exactly what all the Romero men found so wonderful.

She gasped suddenly when an array of red and blue lights flashed and the high pitched sounds of a police siren screamed at her to stop the car. Alex was home and was pulling her over.

~ Sheriff Romero was amused to find Lucy had taken his wife out for a drive. He'd spotted the district head and tail lights of his grandfather's old car driving too fast along the round driveway in front of the house.

Norma seemed to have been spoiled by her modern car. The Mercedes, while older, wasn't as temperamental as Lucy. It was easier to drive than the old Ford and his wife must have thought the much older car would be just as easy.

But Alex liked his car like he liked his women. Beautiful, classic, and hard for anyone but him to handle.

Rather than be upset that she had taken Lucy without asking, he watched with a slight smile as Norma rounded the barn too fast and narrowly miss a tree. It was this danger to his wife and car that made him turn on the lights a sirens and tail her.

~ "Shit!" Norma shouted breaking hard and hearing Lucy grumble her displeasure at the joy ride coming to an end. She turned off the engine and the headlights died.

"Shit!" she shouted again realizing she hadn't put Lucy into park. Why did they have to make this car so confusing? She missed her Mercedes. She never wanted to drive this fearsome beast again. She finally managed to secure the car when the Sheriff's SUV turned off its' own headlights.

"Ma'am can I see your license and registration please?" came a cold and demanding voice from beside her.

Norma jumped and saw Alex was there holding a flashlight on her. His face grim with displeasure she'd taken the car out.

She tried to give him a bright smile, but the situation had no excuse.

"I think… my license is in my purse. At the house… Sheriff." she said shyly. A real smile tickling her lips now at the absurdity of her situation.

Alex didn't smile. He looked over the car for damage and his jaw worked back and forth in a way that always meant annoyance.

"You have any idea how fast you were going? You almost hit a tree, ma'am." he said in his detached cop voice. "Not to mention you plates are out of date."

"Oh, gee, Sheriff." Norma grinned and blushed hard. "You're not going to give me a ticket, are you? You know I voted for you last month in the election."

"I ran unopposed, ma'am." Sheriff Romero said smartly and Norma tried to hide her grin. "Can you step out of the car, please?"

Norma tried desperately not to smile, but it was a hard thing. Alex never wanted to play these kinds of games with her and it was exhilarating.

"Sure." she said happily and made sure Lucy was in park again before opening the door.

"You know, _stealing_ a car… that's cause for arrest." Alex said looking over her appreciatively. He'd turned his flashlight off her and they were bathed only in moonlight and the lights from the house.

"Oh, isn't there anyway you can just let me go, Sheriff? I promise I'll be good." Norma said in a desperate, breathy voice.

Alex smiled now. A real smile that broke the facade of his previous cold demeanor.

"Not after the way I saw you drive, ma'am." he said. "Maybe we can work something out though."

Norma giggled happily when he stepped towards her and was rewarded with that familiar spicy smell that was his very own scent and the way his arms felt pulling her aggressively to him.

"Alex!" she cried in mock horror at the feel of his breath on her neck. Her legs feeling weak and instinctively wanting to wrap around his hips.

"You've been up to no good, Mrs. Romero." he panted hotly on her neck and she shivered slightly with the electricity that ran down her skin.

"I made you a nice roast for dinner, Sheriff." she said sweetly and felt his embrace on her tighten at the mention of food.

"It can wait." he whispered in her ear and she almost crumpled in his arms. She could hear the distinctive click of Lucy's door open. She glanced away from him and saw he'd opened the door to the ample back seat. She'd learned from experience that they would have plenty of room back there.

With the eagerness of two misbehaving teenagers, Norma grinned widely and dove into the back seat with her husband not far behind.

In a heated mess of hurried fingers and hands, he'd easily stripped her of the blouse she was wearing as she nimbly straddled his lap. The old car had plenty of head room in the back seat for the both of them to do almost anything they had done in the bedroom. It was a little sad modern cars weren't so accommodating.

Several times Alex had taken her out for a lazy midnight drive to a secluded spot for just such an adventure. The two of them happy to escape the kids for a few hours where they could both be as loud as they wanted and were almost begging to be caught at times. Still, what was the worst that could happen? Someone catching them and the town was horrified to find Sheriff Romero was still attracted to his wife?

Norma was rewarded with that knowing feeling of hardness rising up to greet her as she ground on his lap. Her husband, normally the strong and silent type, looking lost and practically helpless if she pulled away from him.

"God, you're so beautiful." he gasped tugging on the lace of her bra as though he wanted to rip it off her body.

Norma flushed with pride and happiness to see such desire in his eyes. After all this time, he looked at her like the first time they'd made love. As though he knew how lucky he was and all he wanted to do was worship her.

Worship her, he did. His hips rocking slowly and with a deliberate thrust that was meant to excite her to the point of torment. He angrily pulled off her bra as though he never wanted her to wear clothes again and exposed her bare breasts to the summer night air.

With a giddy delight of being nearly naked and not in the safety and privacy of their bedroom, Norma felt her excitement nearly climax. She suddenly didn't want to wear her skirt of panties and wanted to be totally nude for him. To see his eyes rake appreciatively over the body he loved so much.

~ Alex let her maneuver off his lap so she could rid herself of the last of her clothing and gazed at her with fascination as she demurely repositioned her naked body like some kind of renaissance painting.

He felt his erection angrily ache for freedom and he kept his eyes trained lustfully on the beautiful form of his wife as he pulled off his shirt. His bride, she would always be his bride, smiling mischievously at him. Daring him not to take her.

He suddenly became clumsy when he tried to undo the buttons and zipper of his pants. Norma's grin becoming a little brighter at the idea she had left him so befuddled.

With a slight rise in anger, although not at her silent teasing, he finally loosened his pants and grabbed her by the legs. Roughly pulling her to lie completely down. Her body still looking magnificent in the light of the moon. All her curves delightfully rounded and ripe. Her body looking like a girl no older than twenty-one.

"Come here." he croaked out before attacking her. Her skin feeling like silk perfection on his bare chest and stomach. He'd managed, somehow, to maneuver his pants down a little and he could feel the heat rising off from between her legs like a sirens call.

Trying to delay the moment, reminding himself he was not the over eager teenager he was acting like just now, Alex tried to redirect his mind to something other than the tormenting goddess who was thrusting her hips up at him, begging for penetration.

He had to give himself time to enjoy the moment. Enjoy the rarity of behaving like this outside of their marital bed.

"Alex!" she whimpered and pushed her hips up to meet him again. Her rhythms becoming insistent and demanding and he could already feel the heated wetness on her that would be his undoing.

"I love you so much." he breathed into her ear. Feeling her shudder with eagerness at the contact.

She let out a deep moan that made his body crack with electricity. His member sliding into her as though his body was now working without he knowledge or approval. Every inch of himself was hugged tightly in a silken, hot wetness that almost made him climax with helpless need.

"More!" she groaned and wrapped her legs around his hips, pushing him in further.

Alex could only hold onto her and pray he could keep control for a little longer. He felt her body shake and realized she'd become tighter around him as he only gave her slow and gentle thrusts. Their stomachs clapping together and her breasts, as beautiful as ever, moved as he commanded.

He gasped at the feeling of her orgasam and winced as her nails dug unforgivingly into his arms. In an effort of self preservation her pulled her hair back, exposing her eloquent neck and felt her release his arms. Her breasts heaving as she came down from her climax.

"Behave, Mrs. Romero." he ordered.

She moaned an answer and her hips continued to abuse him. Demanding more from him till he had to think about anything to keep from reaching completion too soon. He busied his mind with his old baseball stats and could feel himself regain control. His temptress of a wife, the wicked tiger she was, wasn't going to let him off that easily. Her hips angrily bucking against him, demanding more.

He groaned and tried to hold on only to feel her cry out and shudder again. Her inner walls spasming tightly around his member again till he almost cried out from this abuse.

"Fuck!" he groaned into her neck and held her hands tightly over her head so she wouldn't claw at him again. This only served to excite her more and her tempo increased with a violent urgency till, almost again his will, he felt himself his poor body orgasam. Spent and useless, he collapsed on top of her.

~ Norma cradled him between her legs and allowed him to rest himself on her. The weight of his body feeling magnificent after her victory. She could feel his ejaculate flooding through her and most certainly making a noticeable stain on Lucy's interior. She'd have to clean the seats again after this latest romp. The thought making her grin at the idea.

"Damn, it, Norma." Alex panted.

"What?" she said innocently. Her naked body happily displayed for him as though she would go naked for the rest of her life. She felt suddenly very powerful and in control of everything around her.

Alex looked a little ashamed of himself for being so easily seduced.

"Was this your plan all along?" he accused.

She smiled a little.

"You better drive us back home, Big Shot." she teased. She'd refused to cover up when he pulled away from her. Her relaxed and happy body content to just lie there as he looked her over with new appreciation.


	128. Chapter 128

128.

~ Norma knew she was pregnant about a month before the kids were scheduled to come back home. She instinctively picked up on the subtle changes in her body long before the tell-tell sign of a missed cycle.

Unlike when she was pregnant with Norman, and especially Dylan, Norma felt no sense of fear or panic wash over her. She was a long way removed from that frightened teenage girl and young woman in an abusive marriage. Such calmness in her life now allowed her to be more centered and truly take in and appreciate the experience as if it were a new thing.

Her breasts had become slightly tender to the touch. Slight headaches and the feeling of dizziness had made her think she was going to throw up but nothing came of it. She also needed to take a nap in the middle of the day, discovering she was tired when normally she had limitless energy.

Alex, like most men, was completely clueless of his wife's condition. He'd been preoccupied with work as always and it would be up to Norma to 'clue him in' on the new addition to their already large family.

While Norma waited for the results of the home pregnancy test to finish, she sat perched on the edge of her claw foot bathtub and thought restlessly, and a little nervously, about what all this would mean.

' _I have school to finish. I can complete another semester and then its' baby time, all the time. I'd want to be home for the baby. I hated leaving the boys at daycare especially when Norman was so young but I didn't have a choice then. I have a choice now.'_ she thought hurriedly. _'After this one is in pre-k or at the very least starting first grade, I can go back. Dylan and Ingrid will both be sixteen by then and will be built in babysitters. Until then, I can actually enjoy this baby with no stress about working a full time job, worrying about daycare, a drunken husband and worst of all, bills I can't pay. Then, when he or she is old enough for school, I'll go back to. Its' perfect.'_ she bit her lip thoughtfully.

 _'And I can always do correspondence classes. Maybe its' finally time we get a computer. Ingrid has been after us to get one for her school work. I read that I can do a lot of my credits through correspondence without ever having to leave the house. Wouldn't that be nice?'_ she realized happily.

She glanced down at her watch and saw more than ten minutes had passed. Nervously, she brushed her palms on her skirt and stood up to look at the pregnancy test. She felt a shiver of happiness rush over her when she saw the positive result. She'd never been happy to find she was pregnant before and it was new feeling to experience joy with the idea of a new baby.

As if propelled by some spiritual force, Norma felt a very small, very powerful light ebb inside her. It wasn't like a glow, it was more like the sharp beam of a light house in the pitch blackness.

Maybe it was because she was in the house where Alex had grown up. A house that was built by his long dead family members and always inhabited by them. Perhaps their ghosts were still here, drifting benevolently about their descendants and they were pleased she was bringing in a new edition to the clan.

She could feel it though. Feel something powerful, guiding and most of all, very kind waft around her as she looked at the pregnancy test. Although she'd never met the woman and had only seen her in photographs, Norma sensed the presence where before, there was just herself.

She felt her body stiffen and she looked around, fully expecting to see someone there. She could smell a flowery perfume that wasn't hers and smell the familiar scent of gardening in spring time even though it was high summer.

"Ellie?" Norma whispered feeling almost certain that Alex's grandmother would appear with an excited smile on her face. She waited for the feeling to pass and slowly, like smoke, it dissipated.

Norma walked into the bedroom she shared with her husband and saw everything was as it should be. Their bed was made and had laundry folded and ready to be put away on top of the bedspread. She quickly walked into the kitchen thinking she might find her elusive intruder there, but the house was empty save for Graceland lazily keeping guard duty over her mistress. The old dog was now too spoiled to serve the Sheriff's office and was far more content keeping Norma company and acting as security.

Norma looked carefully around the living room beyond the kitchen and saw nothing. She wasn't afraid exactly, but wondered why this feeling had been so strong. She was sure she smelled the distinctive smell of Ellie Romero. A woman long dead before she was even born.

Whatever it was, Norma pushed it away in her mind for later. If it was Ellie's ghost, she knew the thing meant no harm at all. That it was like Graceland. Benign and only wanting the house to be filled with happiness.

~ Chick Hogan was a rarity. Truly the type of man great adventure novels were written about. He seemed a character more fitting for the frontier days of the great expansion and was wasted in the 21st century. There was no more wilderness to explore and conquer. No more expansive forests to hide in forever. The modern world was crowding in on him and he hated it.

His life was two fold. He'd often spend months in the solitary cabin in the woods. A place he would have to park his old junker of a truck at the base of a hill and walk three miles to get to. It was quite and peaceful and rent free. He was squatting on the land technically, but since no one knew he was even there, what did it matter?

Despite Chick guarding a few the of the weed secret patches all around the dense forest for Nick Ford, he wasn't paid much for his trouble. No, it was more of a ' _you do this or else_ ' arrangement that in Chick's mind, upset the natural order of things.

He didn't mind pot, he minded that it was illegal. Illegal things made it dangerous.

So, Chick kept a low profile. Only hunting what he needed and nothing else. He'd sell rabbit fur and homemade deer jerky in the village when he needed money which wasn't often. When he needed a big ticket item, such as a generator to finally give him electricity to the cabin, he knew where to go.

Deputy Romero was now Sheriff Romero and when the large man walked into the Sheriff's building, the lesser creatures scurried out of his way.

The small, bug eyed lady at the front window wasn't at all intimidated by the behemoth and she glared back at him coldly when he announced he didn't have an appointment but he had business with Sheriff Romero.

Clarice, her name plate announced, looked at him scathingly. Chick could only guess it was because of his large bear skin coat that he'd made himself last winter. That and the facial hair he'd admittedly allowed to get out of control.

However, not to Chick's surprise, Sheriff Romero saw him right away and after a few pleasantries were exchanged, Chick artfully asked if there was any work he might do.

"Of course, Chick." Romero said with a rare and very genuine smile. Chick Hogan suspected married life continued to be good to the man. With a lady as elegant as Norma, he suspected that married life with her was very good indeed.

The Sheriff made out a list of odd jobs that needed attention around the farm. The barn needing a good coat of paint. Any color except red would do and Norma would pick that color out. He also wanted some brush cleared, the back porch repaired and a few things that would put Chick with more than enough money to buy a generator and comfortably make it through the winter. It would also keep Chick occupied for the next two months.

~ When the large man arrived on the Romero farm, he wasn't surprised to see Norma was there. Busy as always with never ending projects of her own. When Chick spotted her, she was hanging sheets out to dry on a line. Trying to capture the smell of the sunlight and the wind coming off the mountains. She had a perfectly good dryer, but there was nothing that compared to the natural smell of clothes air dried on a line in summer.

One look at the woman and Chick knew she was expecting. Her skin gave it all away. She had good skin anyway because she was young and took care of herself, but her skin was positively sparkling and with a radiance Chick rarely saw.

"Mrs. Romero." Chick nodded and explained how her husband had hired him to do a bit of chores around the house.

Norma looked a little flushed and tired which only confirmed Chick's suspicions that she was in a family way.

"Perhaps…" Chick said and nodded to the second floor window that was her seeing room. "Perhaps its' time to re-do that sewing room of yours? Use it for something more important?"

Norma looked a little worried and winded that he'd guessed. Her expression was like she was a frightened teenage girl instead of a happily married woman with three well behaved children already under her belt.

"Is it that obvious?" she said nervously.  
Chick only shrugged and nodded. Her body wasn't showing any signs yet and it was just her skin that would make any woman alive envious.

"I haven't told Alex yet. I only just found out yesterday myself." she confessed and folded a dry sheet back into her laundry basket. Chick could tell precisely which bed sheet belonged to which child. The plain blue was Norman's, the Star Wars sheets were Dylan's, and the white with the lace edge work belonged to Ingrid.

"Tell him." Chick nodded. "He'll be happy. I think I saw an old cradle in the barn. Wouldn't be any trouble at all to sand down and refinish for the little one. Unless you feel that's the father's job. Always was the job father to be, you know, back in the day. To build his child's cradle. It's the Sheriff's privilege, but I can go find it. Suspect its' rocked many a Romero baby including the Sheriff himself in its' time."

Norma gave him a weak smile and nodded.

"After that, we can discuss fixing up the nursery like you want it." Chick said lazily and went to the barn to find the old wooden cradle that had been neatly stored away. Most likely its' last occupant thinking it would never be used again.

~ "Hope Chick didn't give you too much of a scare." Alex said looking over the heaps of food Norma had prepared for dinner. She hadn't been able to adjust her cooking for the absence of the kids and there was far too much as always.

He had to admit, as much as he loved the silence and freedom of having the kids away, the house felt lonely without them. There was the creeping feeling of anxiety chasing up his spine when he entered the house now. A feeling he now realized the children, along with his tiger, would always chase away.

Alex could look around the living room and remember too much of his own childhood. His depressed mother crying, his drunken father yelling. It made him nervous until Norma, fearless and not about to tolerate ghosts and their nonsense, arrived and frightened the specters out.

"No. Not at all." Norma said distractedly.

"Just… you know, the farm takes a lot of work. Dylan can't exactly help just now and…" Alex explained sensing something was off. She was looking away from him like she was trying to hide a lie.

"Yeah." Norma nodded.

Alex tried a different approach. Maybe she was just missing the kids. She didn't know how not to live her life as a mother sometimes. She was so used to it and it was something she took great pride in.

"I'll be glad when the kids are home." Alex offered. "I've missed them."

Norma was silent.

"Not that I think summer camp was a bad idea." he said quickly. Already he fully planned to send Dylan and Ingrid to summer camp next year. Maybe, if Norman was doing better socially, they could find a special placement for him. Some environment that would encourage him to grow instead of being so protected and sheltered.

"Yeah." Norma said absentmindedly.

Alex didn't want to ask what was wrong. He'd learned through experience that wasn't a good tactic with a woman. It was the same a slapping a tiger on the nose. Sure your point was made but you'd be mauled to death so there was no point.

"I think we should sell the farm, buy and RV and just take off before the kids come back." Alex said teasingly.

Norma grinned at him. She was looking absolutely beautiful tonight. She must have bought a new skin cream product or maybe it was just the light.

"I don't think so, Sheriff." she smiled and her face fell slightly.

Alex picked at his food.

"So what all did Chick do today?" he asked.

"Well, he cleaned out the barn a little." Norma said brightly. "He found a nice project he was willing to do but decided that it might be something that you should handle."

"Oh?" Alex asked not really listening. He was enjoying the pasta and homemade sauce she'd made. It was a wonder he hadn't gained 100lbs by now and looked like the comical Sheriff in an old movie.

"Yeah, he said it's a tradition thing and I told him I would ask you if you wanted to fix it up." Norma said with difficulty.

"Oh, yeah?" Alex asked. His mind was thinking it might have been on old bike for Dylan or Norman. Maybe something that had belonged to his mother for Ingrid. The second floor of the barn was enormous and housed a trove of Romero family artifacts.

"Chick told me it's the job of the father to make a cradle for the new baby." Norma said softly. "Since we have one in the barn already, he thought you might want to be the one to fix it up."

It took a moment for Alex to process what she had said.

Stupidly, he thought she meant there was a baby in the barn, but like puzzle pieces falling into place, Alex looked from his dinner, to Norma, towards his dinner again.

"Baby?" he asked as though the idea was impossible.

Norma smiled brightly and nodded.

"You're- you're… sure?" he stuttered and smiled. His heart beating quickly.

"Very." she said.

"When?" he asked in bewilderment.

"I think it was in Lucy." Norma admitted. A hot blush creeping over her face.

Alex had to smile even wider at this.

"Simon would be so proud." he laughed.

Norma let out a nervous laugh herself and hid her face behind her hand.

"I know, its' crazy!" she blushed harder.  
"It's not crazy." Alex smiled. "Not at all. It's good. It's a good thing."

"I know we didn't exactly plan it this way." she admitted.

"It's perfect." Alex assured her confidently.

Norma quickly explained about buying a computer and doing correspondence classes. How she could enjoy being a full time mother now and be more devoted to the baby but all Alex could think of was how his blood, his body, was inside her just now. How, even though he'd always thought of the boys and Ingrid as his, this felt different. This was far more primal and basic.

"I won't love this baby anymore than the other kids." Alex promised suddenly. Already he knew that was a lie. He already loved this unknown, unseen child more fiercely than he could love anything. It was a terrifying feeling that he might favor his own blood over the children he'd sworn to care for like his own.

"I know." Norma smiled contentedly at him.

Alex reached for her hand, lacing her fingers in his. Seeing the light refract off of Ellie's ring, his mother's ring, on her finger. Happy that for this moment in time, everything was so perfect.


	129. Chapter 129

129.

~ Alex braved the second floor of the barn where Chick had neatly sorted and stored all the Romero family's personal property that wouldn't fit in the attic. The barn was more than adequate to store things in. It was well built and insulated and Chick had placed furniture and boxes in neatly organized piles. Even covering them with clear plastic tarps to shield them from damage.

He found the cradle right away. Chick having gone up that afternoon and pulling it out of hiding. Alex hadn't seen it in years and forgot how small it really was. In his memory, it seemed a much bigger thing. Although to be fair, the last time he truly gave it any thought at all was when he was much younger than Norman.

The cradle was made of a beautiful redwood. Alex wasn't sure how old it was now but he knew Simon had been rocked in it as a baby. It was the kind of cradle the frontier women had. A low to the ground type of thing that was practical because a mother could sit in a chair and work at something else, while rocking the cradle with her foot. It was also better to have a cradle low to the ground in case the little one got the idea to crawl out, there would be less of a fall. Smart thinking. Nowadays, cribs were designed with the comfort of the adults in mind.

The Romero cradle had the nice redwood that was still rich and warm looking. It was built with a canopy that would shade the infant's face on sunny days. It even had well worn handles on each side so that the whole thing could be carried with ease.

Alex pulled and tugged at the old thing and pronounced it as sound as the day it was built. He had to assume it was made by Simon's father while they were constructing the farm house if not sooner. Back before there was a law against cutting down the ancient redwood trees in the area.

A cradle like this would look right at home in a museum about White Pine Bay and might even gain a nice price at a collectors auction, but Alex took it back downstairs to find the wood soap and started cleaning it up.

It only needed a good cleaning to erase the decades of dust and it shone like new again. Alex was slightly worried about the fact the thing was so small.

' _Would the baby be that small?_ ' he thought with panic. He couldn't be responsible for something that small. The bigger kids were one thing, Dylan and Ingrid… Norman even, were pretty tough. A baby was small and fragile.

He had to steady himself for a moment by remembering that Norma knew what she was doing. Even if he didn't. She'd done this twice before with the boys and was the expert.

 _'_ _It's going to be fine.'_ he reminded himself. _'My son will be fine.'_

It shocked him that he wanted a boy. That he had already started thinking of this new baby as a boy when it was just as likely to be a girl. Perhaps it came from cleaning up a family heirloom that had been passed down from father to son that had gotten the idea stuck in his head. He suddenly wanted, _needed_ , a son even though he had Dylan and Norman who were always his more than they were anyone else's.

Alex felt that greed inside him grow hungrier at the idea of a son that would look just like him. That would be someone he would leave behind. His own blood who he would be forever connected with.

Such a thought was alarming to Alex. He didn't like the idea that he would love this new child more than the three who gave him so much happiness already. Dylan and Norman were his sons. Ingrid was his daughter. Ingrid was as alike him in temperament sometimes as any two people could be. Dylan had always looked up to and emulated him like a son should a father. As for Norman, well Norman had always felt safe around Alex and that was all that they could ask for.

Still, he couldn't help the image of his son in little league. Of his son in boy scouts. Maybe his son would join the Marines after college and come work for him as a deputy and maybe one day… Sheriff.

Alex grinned at the idea of planning the boy's whole life out.

 _'_ _Serves me right if Norma gives me a little girl who only likes princesses and boy bands.'_ he decided. _'God, help us all if it's a girl.'_

He remembered very keenly how he treated girls back in high school. Long before he knew better and was only after one thing and it meant nothing at all to destroy a girls reputation. Still, he didn't worry too much. A teenage girl who's father was a formidable town Sheriff and who had an older brother like Dylan wasn't likely to be the target of too much male angst. At least he hoped. Also, there was Norma to contend with to. Several members of the school board had already learned not to cross her when they tried to remove Norman from class. The tiger's reaction had been swift and deadly. Accusing board members of discrimination against her son who had a right to an education.

Pity on anyone who messed with Norma Romero's kids.

Alex remembered there was his own old nursery items on the second floor. Things that could easily be redone for the new baby. He ventured upstairs to the second floor of the barn again to find the ghostly stacks of furniture again. Walking through each of them was like going back in time. His family didn't like to throw anything serviceable away in case it could be used again. Alex saw that Norma had wisely had Chick stash his parents furniture here. The decor of the late 1960's hadn't aged well at all and he winced at the heavy looking coffee table he remembered too well from his teen years.

Finally he reached a pile that looked promising. A box that said ' _baby items_ ' and he knew they were most likely from his old nursery. As an only child of an only child, or so he believed, Alex was doted on as a baby by his parents and Simon. They kept everything about his early childhood.

He quickly pulled out the boxes of the baby books his mother had kept and pulled down the plastic sheets to see the dresser and matching changing table that he would refinish.

He'd forgotten. How could he have forgotten?

 **Yellow.**

Of course his mother had painted them all yellow. Her favorite color. The whole house had been in yellow growing up hadn't it? Alex felt his breath tighten in his throat and he was instantly transported back in time.

He was back to that Sunday morning in the middle of summer. Coming to the house to bring his mother to the church. He could feel the house was so still. Sense something was wrong because she hadn't responded to him when he knocked on the door and he had to let himself in. He remembered the floorboards creaking when he went into the master bedroom. Floors that Chick had easily fixed when they redid the house.

He'd never given it a second thought that the room his mother died in was the same room he now shared with his wife. It had been completely remodeled so that it was now unrecognizable.

Yet now, it seemed grotesque that he consummated his marriage night after night in the same room his mother took her life in.

Alex shut his eyes before the image of his mother, dead and still beautiful in her bed, flooded his mind. He couldn't see her again. He hadn't thought about her in so long. His happiness with Norma having chased away all the bad thoughts.

Alex let the plastic tarp fall down and obscured the baby furniture again. He'd have Chick bring it down, sand and repaint it to Norma's specifications. He didn't want to see them.

Without thinking why, he grabbed the box beside his feet and left.

~ Norma was sleeping peacefully on their bed when Alex came back. She'd found she was exhausted after doing the dishes and needed a nap before taking a shower and going to bed. What was she going to do when the kids got home? She decided not to think about it now.

She woke at the sound of her husband creeping into their room and guiltily looked at the clock.

"Oh. I took a two hour nap." she said sleepily and decided she would take a shower in the morning. To hell with it, she was too tired to care.

"You're that tired?" Alex asked in the darkness of their bedroom. She could sense him shifting off his shoes and clothes before slipping into the bed next to her.

"Its' fine." she assured him quickly. "Its' normal."

"When should we start telling people?" he whispered and she felt his hand graze over her hip. His fingers not yet daring to touch her abdomen.

"We should wait a little while." she said feeling the need to fall asleep again. "We have to tell the kids first. We should probably wait till I'm at eleven weeks. Much less chance of a miscarriage."

She could sense, even the darkness, Alex's worry. Perhaps it was because his breathing had changed or the way his hold on her hip became more gentle but the idea of a miscarriage frightened him.

"I'm not going to have a miscarriage, Alex." she said calmly.

"I know." he said quickly.

It was the same way Dylan or Norman said _'I know_ ' when they weren't really sure about something but didn't wan't anyone to guess otherwise.

"This baby will be fine." she said sleepily.

"Yeah." he breathed. "I know it doesn't matter, but do you want a boy or a girl?"

"I think healthy is all we have a right to ask for." she said calmly. She wasn't sure what it was but she felt so strangely calm with this pregnancy. She had some nervous moments sure, but they were mostly revolving around people finding out before she was ready. She never had any anxieties about the baby or her relationship with the father which was a new experience for her.

"I know, but you must want one more than the other." he whispered.

She grinned in the darkness.

"I guess it would be nice to have a little girl." she said.

"See? I knew you wanted one over the other." he said defensively.

"I didn't say that." Norma laughed. "I said a girl would be nice. A boy would be nice to. We have Ingrid but we both agree she's like a super villain sometimes. It would be nice to have a little girly-girl who likes to wear pretty dresses and things."

"You can do all that with Norman." Alex said sourly.

"Alex!" Norma laughed in shock.

"I'm sorry. I think I'm just worried about a little girl. I mean, the boys I can handle. Ingrid, I can handle because she's…"

"A super villain." Norma reminded him helpfully.

"Right." Alex sighed. "A little girl… that's scary."

"Poor Sheriff Romero. Terrified of a little girl dressed in pink." Norma teased him and grinned. She felt her insides flutter happily with butterflies as a beautiful picture presented itself.

She could see it so clearly. She could see Alex carrying their daughter. She was about 3 years old and dressed in a fluffy pink dance outfit and women were looking out shop windows and straining their necks to see him holding his little girl. Carrying her so effortlessly in one arm because he didn't want her little ballet slippers to get wet and dirty on the muddy downtown streets. He looked so unbelievably handsome in his uniform in that picture Norma could hardly stand it.

"What?" Alex whispered.

"Nothing." she whispered happily. "I think you'd look very handsome holding a little girl is all."

"Oh." Alex said in surprise when she rolled over and nestled her legs around his. "Thought you were tired."

She was pulling his strong body on top of her and making his hands push her panties down before he could say anything else.


	130. Chapter 130

130.

~ The next morning, Alex got up for work early and allowed Norma to sleep in a little. Her body needing the extra rest these days. As soon as she did get up, Norma had noticed the weathered, dirty box sitting on her perfectly clean kitchen counter top and scowled at it disapprovingly. It had the stink and musty odor of long storage in the barn and she wondered what would possess Alex to just put this thing on top of something she prepared food on.

Dylan was the same way sometimes. He would put his dirty clothes on top of the countertop or table as if his rancid used underwear wasn't making contact with the same surface she made dinner on. If she hadn't caught him at it, and wiped everything down obsessively, who knows what?

She picked the old box up and noticed it was filled up with homemade scrapbooks and paused. She was a sucker for this kind of thing. Of the few items she had managed to cling to when Sam drug her to White Pine Bay, were the boy's baby books.

She carefully fished these newly found scrapbooks out one by one thinking that they must have been Alex's baby books and that she could find some inspiration from them. Also, she wasn't sure she'd even seen a baby picture of Alex.

"Morning." her husband called sauntering in being her and Norma turned around in surprise.

"Morning." she smiled happily. "Do you want me to make you something for breakfast?"

"No, I'm running late. I can pick something up on the way in." Alex said putting a soft hand around her waist and kissing her lightly.

Norma nodded.

"Last night was nice." Alex said hopefully.  
"Yes." Norma agreed quickly.

Last night certainly hadn't been their usual reckless abandonment. Alex had confessed he was a little worried about hurting her and the baby and it was the first time Norma had felt he'd treated her as something less than a lover. The sex had been fine, but it could have been much better. Not that she would ever tell him that. She suspected the pregnancy was still a shock to him and he didn't know how to be with her the same way. In a few weeks, when he had time to adjust to the idea, things would return to normal.

"I'll be home early." Alex promised.

"Okay." Norma said and smiled.

"By the way I found that cradle Chick was talking about in the barn. It just needed a good cleaning. Its' all ready now, Mrs. Romero." he added hopefully.

Norma leaned over to kiss him.

"My hero." she cooed softly before he slipped away.

~ She wasn't up to putting shoes on and going out into the barn to inspect the cradle yet. It had rained last night and the whole yard was muddy. No, it was best to stay inside with Graceland and go through this box of scrapbooks.

Only to Norma's amazement, they didn't contain just Alex's baby books, but his father's as well. Age had tinged the white fabric cover to a sour yellow of Marcus Romero's beginnings, but it was well documented in Ellie's careful script.

Norma started with the Old Bear's first out of sheer curiosity. She only knew about her father-in-law from legend after all. She had no desire at all to meet him and from what Alex had described, not to mention Sybil, he was a fearsome man indeed.

Marcus Romero had, sadly, been an ugly baby. His parents looking both young and, at same time, very old when he was born. War was most likely the case of this odd aging. Simon was almost unrecognizable from his old very dashing Army picture before he was captured. He'd aged so much during the war. Ellie was no longer a naive school girl either. Their faces were already weathered and haunted looking before they were even out of their twenties.

Between them sat a fat, wide face, unhappy baby who would grow up to be a grouch of an old man. Norma looked between Ellie and Simon and their infant son and decided Marcus looked nothing like them. Both Simon and Ellie were slender and athletic looking. Simon especially looking more like his grandson Alex than Marcus. Ellie seemed out of place next to the dashing darker haired man with her smattering of summer freckles on her face. According to Sybil, Ellie had been a beautiful and pale ginger and who had left Simon Romero smitten when he returned home from war.

There were snap shots of a very pregnant Ellie standing in front of this very house. The greenhouse on the side not there of course in the early fifties. Snapshots of the new mother holding her son in the hospital just a day after delivery. Ellie looking a little winded and Simon leaning beside them both, smiling widely.

Norma flipped through the milestones in Ellie's neat penmanship and saw the pictures. Marcus never smiled in any of them. Not even on Christmas morning when his parents had given him a police costume with a badge and toy gun.

Norma thought she saw a little of Alex in that grim face and had to remind herself that Marcus was Alex's uncle biologically.

She wondered why her husband never wanted to contact his birth mother Allison. Why he wasn't the least bit curious about her. Surely, if it were Norma, she would think about her lost baby everyday.

Alex never gave it a second thought. Didn't want to even read the letters Sybil gave him.

Norma was a little sad to see that Marcus Romero's baby book ended when the boy was only five. The chubby little boy seeming to pout in every picture. Right up until he lost his first tooth.

Norma smiled softy at the memory of Dylan losing his first tooth. She had showed how him to put the lost tooth under his pillow and when she went to kiss him goodnight, she had slipped her hand under his pillow and placed a neatly folded ten dollar bill there. Dylan had been so happy. He had bought himself and Norman action figures, and couldn't wait to lose another tooth.

Like Ellie, Norma had lovingly put the first tooth in Dylan's baby book. When Norman started losing his teeth, it hadn't gone as smoothly. Norman didn't like the sight of blood, especially his own. He worked himself into near hysterics when he spat out a tooth and blood started freely flowing from his mouth.

The kids had been playing outside when it happened and had decided not to seek the help of an adult. So Norma and Alex only heard about all this after the fact.

Oddly enough, it had been Ingrid who'd been the one the one to calm Norman down by making him remember the number of windows in the house, trees on the property, steps to the barn. At least till Dylan could stop the bleeding with a cold rag.

"Next time you're bleeding, just think of something calming." Ingrid told him lazily. "You're really good at counting and remembering numbers, Norman."

She had washed off his baby tooth, but Norman didn't want it back. He shook his head as though it were evil.

"Fine. I'll put it under my pillow for the tooth fairy tonight and give you the ten bucks in the morning." Ingrid sighed in annoyance.

Norman nodded eagerly at such a good deal.

"But you have to do my chores tonight." she said shrewdly. Norman agreed. Anything to keep that tooth away and still get the money.

Ingrid wisely ransomed Norman's baby tooth to his mother for the pricey some of fifteen bucks till her father reminded her that she still owed them ten dollars from that extra pricy trip to the bookshop last month.

Ingrid looked mutinous, but agreed to give Norman his ten dollars, Alex agreed Ingrid's debt would be forgiven and all was well.

Norma happily placed Marcus' baby book aside. She'd tell Alex about it and let him decide if he wanted to look at it. She already knew what the answer would be. At this stage in their relationship, it was easier to pretend he had no father.

Alex's baby books were much more fun to look at. Marcus Romero was hardly featured at all in them and Norma guessed he either spent a lot of time away from home, or simply felt men had no place in a child's upbringing.

There were lots of pictures of baby Alex that looked like every other baby in the world. Wrinkled and with a dark patch of hair. Norma noticed there was no pictures of a pregnant Theresa Romero, but there wouldn't be of course.

Someone else had taken a few pictures of Theresa alone with her new baby in front of the church. The new mother wearing a fashionable yellow shift dress that screamed the 1960's and holding her one year old son on her lap.

Her long dark hair falling in well groomed waves down her back as she smiled brightly for the camera.

There was a series of Christmas mornings and halloween costumes with Alex dressed in adorable homemade costumes. Norma smiled warmly when she saw the little bear costume Norman had worn their first halloween in White Pine Bay. Alex looked small and cute, but not as cute as Norman had. She was glad the costume was gender neutral and that this baby could also wear it. That she'd taken plenty of pictures of Norman in the costume to. She gently removed the old picture from the baby book and made a note to have a copy made of it. They would have to start a tradition in the family.

A tradition with the costume and have photographs on her mantle like a real family. She smiled happily at the idea. Her own family had no real traditions like that. Nothing that was as tangible as what Alex took for granted. Something that could be passed down like this.

Alex could pass down a house, land, family heirlooms. Norma had next to nothing to give her children. Yet it was strange that Alex didn't see it that way. He saw it exactly the opposite. The way he saw it, she had everything to give him.

She gently put the plundered photo on the coffee table and kept looking until she found the other halloween picture. It was the only picture of Marcus Romero in the entire book. The only picture Norma had ever seen of Alex with his father as a child. She'd seen only one before. It was when Alex had one state the second time and the Sheriff had posed with his son by his side. Both men looking grim and not at all pleased to be seen together.

In this picture, Alex had to be around six and not aware he would grow up to hate his father. The then Sheriff Romero was actually smiling and looked years younger when he did so. He was holding his son in his arm. Holding him with one arm the way Alex often held Norman, and Alex was wearing the little police costume Dylan had worn.

Norma blinked at the stark similarities between Alex and his father. Before she wondered how they could even be related, now she saw them and saw they could practically be brothers in this picture. Sure, Marcus was a little heavier and his face wasn't as naturally handsome as Alex's was, but they were defiantly related. Even the way Marcus held Alex was exactly the way Norma remembered Alex holding Norman that first time.

When her arm had been so badly broken by Sam that she could hardly function and Alex had helped her by picking Norman up and carrying him inside with only one arm. One arm holding her sleeping little boy. Norman resting his head on Alex's strong and capable shoulder as if he trusted him and felt protected by him.

Norma, unsure of how to feel about the picture flipped the page and an errant photograph fell free from the book. It hadn't been attached to any page but it was yellowed with age and tattered from neglect.

Norma picked it up and thought it must be Theresa Romero at first because of her lush dark hair and her strong, arresting dark eyes. She flipped the faded color photo over and saw, in a stranger's handwriting ' _Allison Clark_ '. Norma flipped the photo back over again and gazed in wonder again at Alex's birth mother. She looked far more like Alex than Marcus or Theresa did. She had the thick, dark hair that went down to her hips. The naturally long eyelashes that curled romantically around her eyes. Even her facial features were lean and as well sculpted as Simon's and Ellie's were.

Norma clutched the photo close to her chest and felt her heart beating faster.


	131. Chapter 131

131.

~ Alex had never purchased baby things before in his entire life. Not even when the friends he'd grown up with had married and started having their own families. He wasn't apart of that world. Wasn't invited to weddings and baptisms and the cute little birthday parties anyway. Those type of things were for family men and, until he met and married Norma, and she gave him such a ready made family, he always assumed he would be on the outside looking in.

Not that he'd been especially envious of such things before. He hadn't disliked bachelorhood or been terribly unhappy before. He and Norma existed in their own world; apart from the rest of White Pine Bay. The isolation on the farm, although only a few miles from town, helped maintain the illusion that they didn't have to conform to reality. That their children and home life could be a safe haven. Which is exactly what Alex always saw it as.

He didn't want to become like so many families before him. Like his own had been. Bitter and trapped. No refuge. No comfort. Just loneliness, anger and hurt feeling building up over time.

Alex wasn't sure why his home life was less dramatic than most. It certainly hadn't started out that way. Not with Sam's death, Shelby's perversion, Ed's near constant attention to his wife and Ingrid's sudden inclusion. Not to mention Norman's issues.

Maybe they just had it easier than most despite the rocky start. Alex had a steady job, a home and a wife that was militant about keeping things in order. The kids were well behaved aside from the normal oddities that could be expected from any child. The fact the Norman had autism didn't cause ripples in the family once they had adjusted around their youngest child's needs.

Norman was very much like living with an eccentric old man. Someone who just liked things the way he liked them, and intensely disliked change. It was similar to having Simon around again. Or someone else who was reserved and kept to himself.

Dylan and Ingrid kept each other occupied with various plots and schemes and years of experience in law enforcement told Alex they were the real ones to watch out for.

So, in Alex's mind, having a new baby wasn't at all scary. Norma knew everything about babies already and she would do most of the work. Boy or girl didn't matter, he decided at last. He already had a house of both genders. At least this way he would be well taken care of as an old man.

Yet, when he folded and refolded the new pajamas he bought, he was flooded with an aching fear over how small they was. It said on the tags, 'newborn' and Alex had a brief panicked moment that surely the infant in question wouldn't be _that_ small.

He'd bought the warm looking footed pajamas and a few other new baby items at a high end shop in the next county where no one would recognize him. He wasn't ready for people in town to know that they were expecting. Especially not after Norma had scared him with such words like 'miscarriage'.

He hadn't thought of the possibility of a miscarriage before. Norma was so perfect and beautiful herself and she had produced nothing but healthy children so far. Norma was only a month gone into the pregnancy; maybe a little more. It was possible for her to miscarry this early and it was why she didn't want to tell people yet. Why she wanted to wait until she was further along and out of the danger zone. That early time when she was more likely to 'miscarry'.

Alex shivered at the word and folded the tiny pajamas up. Their fabric was a thicker, warmer variety and had little green circus animals on them. He'd selected it because, by his calculations, the baby would come at the end of February and the weather would still be cold.

He wasn't sure why, but the idea his child might be too cold bothered him. Norma would never allow such a thing of course. She would never allow their baby to be too cold or go hungry or be neglected in anyway. Alex was sure this newborn would be just a well regulated and watched over like the boys had been.

He was breathed a little easier, picturing Norma this way. Her capable hands dressing their child in these tiny pajamas, who would immediately stop crying for her. This child, who would be put on a feeding and sleeping schedule so precise, that he could set his watch to it.

He remembered all too well the dinner and bath schedule she had for the boys when they first started to see each other more seriously. Norma knew what she was doing, even if he was too terrified to even hold a baby.

~ Alex came home to find his wife asleep on their bed and with a jumble of sewing on her lap. She had started, what looked like a little quilt for the baby in question and it panicked Alex to see her small sewing scissors resting so near her unprotected abdomen. If she'd unconsciously rolled over, she could have stabbed herself through the belly.

"Norma?" he whispered and gently removed her sewing kit. Stashing her scissors away and not liking the fact they had been so close to her body.

She stirred and he marveled at how pink and perfectly smooth her skin looked. Almost like she'd grown younger in the month since finding herself in a more delicate condition. He watched as her eyes fluttered open and she looked innocently around the room till she spotted him.

"When did you get home?" she questioned sleepily.

"Just now." he said with a grin. He nodded to the mess of scrap fabric. Curious as always about what she'd been up to. His wife was a never ending enigma. An unsolvable study in contrast. "What are you making, Mrs. Romero?"

"Baby quilt." she said happily giving her body a good stretch before sitting up. "From all our old clothes."

Alex noticed some of the flannel from one of his old shirts had been hijacked and the blue had come from a blue dress she used to wear but had torn beyond repair last year.

There was a shirt Norman had loved. A well loved green dress shirt that that he'd outgrown. Norman hadn't taken the news of not being able to wear it anymore very well. Alex recognized Dylan and Ingrid's clothes to. They had yet to be cut up and pieced together again.

He was impressed by the dedication she was showing and thought it a little cheap that he'd _bought_ baby clothes.

"I love the cradle." she said dreamily. Her smile blooming and her face luminous in a way he wasn't used to seeing.

"You do?" he asked simply. "It's old. We can get a new one-"

"No, I want that one." she insisted. "It's got good vibes. Good karma attached to it. You can tell it's rocked a lot of babies in this family. That's important."

He smiled at the idea she approved.

"I forgot it was so small." he admitted.

"I'm sure you did. Since the last time you were in it, Sheriff." she teased him.

He blushed softly and handed her the small bag of tiny clothing. _Too_ tiny.

"What's this?" she asked accusingly. A knowing grin on her face when she saw the name of the shop.

"Something. Not for you." he warned.

Norma bit her lower lip and glanced excitedly at him as she carefully unfolded the soft and warm looking pajamas he'd bought.

"Had to get them in the next town. Didn't want people to gossip. Sheriff buying baby things." he shrugged. "People would know right away."

Norma looked ready to cry as she inspected the newborn clothing one by one. Alex hadn't thought too much about price at the time, but they were expensive items. Now that he took the time to look at each one, he realized they were on the high end of baby clothes. They cost more than his own clothing.

"Alex." she sighed contentedly.

"You don't like them?" he asked worriedly. He'd spent a lot of time selecting the best newborn items he could find. Things he thought Norma would like. Nothing gender specific, nothing red, or yellow. Preferably all natural and locally made.

"They're perfect." she breathed and looked at him happily.

Alex nodded. Of course they were. He was the father, he knew how to buy clothing for his own child.

"Thank you." she said softly and he was struck again by how small the items were once Norma was holding them.

"You think the baby will be that small?" he asked worriedly.

Norma looked mildly amused by the question.

"Probably." she laughed. "Dylan was a small baby. So was Norman. He was all arms and legs when he was a newborn."

Alex nodded. His fears not alleviated.

"I found your baby book, Sheriff." she smiled. "You were a pretty cute kid."

"I'm still a cute kid." he said unperturbed.

Norma snorted a laugh.

"I left in on the coffee table if you wanted to look through it." she told him and carefully refolded the clothes again.

"Maybe later." he sighed.

"Your dad's baby book is in that box to." she told him.

"Defiantly later." Alex huffed.

"Are you going to tell him?" Norma asked.

"About this?" Alex asked in shock and nodded towards her abdomen.

Norma nodded.

Alex shook his head.

He didn't like to think about the Old Bear. The last visit he had was just before he'd married Norma, and it hadn't gone well.

"I doubt he would care." Alex said indifferently.

Norma sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I don't want to expose my child to Marcus Romero." Alex said suddenly feeling defensive. "He's not a good guy, Norma. He's in prison and he deserves to be there."

"I know." Norma whispered.

"If he ever gets out, he won't be welcome here." Alex reiterated.

Norma looked at the baby clothes he'd gotten her, and nodded.

"I know." she said softly.

Alex felt pained that he'd become so defensive. That the moment, seconds before had been so perfect and now it was spoiled by the memory of the Old Bear.

"I'm sorry." he sighed. "Do you want me to get you anything? Are you hungry?"

"No." Norma shook her head. "I was just tired. Chick and I were up in the barn today moving that nursery set down so he could redo it."

Alex scowled and felt alarmed at the idea his pregnant wife was on the second level of the barn helping Chick move furniture.

"What?" he asked. Hoping she was joking.

"Well, you asked Chick to refinish the nursery set that was up in the barn." Norma said innocently. "The yellow one? We moved it down to the work area so he could strip it. Its' maple and I think it will look nice with its' original wood."

"You were climbing up in the barn and moving furniture?" Alex questioned again. The word, that awful word ' _miscarriage_ ' clanged in his head like an offensive drumbeat.

"Yes." Norma said simply.

"In your condition?"

"Alex." Norma rolled her eyes.

"No, you said so yourself. You're still in the endangerment zone. You shouldn't have done that." Alex argued.

"Alex, I was fine. I was just moving around little things. It was fine." Norma insisted.

"No."

He stood up and felt real annoyance at his wife. He could just imagine her engaging in physical labor. Lifting that heavy furniture and causing some type of unseen damage.

"We need to make an appointment with Doctor Bloch. Or find a better doctor in Portland." he said quickly. "Make sure everything is okay."

"Alex its' fine." Norma insisted.

"No, it's not." told her smartly. "I'll make us something to eat, why don't you rest."

It wasn't a question, but an order. He still hated the idea of her over doing things. Still hated that word beating so horribly in his head. What if she lost the baby? What if they lost the baby because of some silly mistake like moving heavy furniture? What if Norma bled out tonight and didn't know?

What if he woke up in the morning and found her dead beside him? She would have gone to sleep and never woken up again. Her lips blue just like his mother's had been. Dying in her sleep like his mother had done.

Alex shook off the idea and tried to brush away the image of yellow curtains and a warm Sunday in summer.


	132. Chapter 132

132.

~ Norma tried hard to keep from smiling. She tried to put herself in Alex's shoes and feel the new found worries and fears he must be experiencing.

Sheriff Alex Romero liked to have some control over the world around him and for once, here was something he was truly made powerless by.

She sensed he was afraid of a miscarriage and regretted ever mentioning the possibility. Maybe she shouldn't have even told him she was pregnant till she was past eleven weeks anyway. But she'd already started experiencing morning nausea and as soon as the kids were home, she wouldn't be able to hide it from anyone. Alex was still a cop and apt to notice any unusual changes.

All the same, it felt nice to have Alex concerned for her like this. It was a new experience compared with her other pregnancies. With Dylan, she and John had been too young and too scared to even take a moment. Let alone worry about the baby's health. It had been nothing but stress and fear for Norma until her son was born and it became painfully obvious who his real father was.

John had suspected it from the moment Dylan arrived and there had been tension in the home ever since. John refused to become close to the newborn and when they finally divorced, he wanted nothing to do with the child. A fate that left her son feeling totally abandoned and unlovable when he'd done nothing wrong.

When she found out she was expecting Norman, Sam had been completely detached from her and didn't help with the preparations for the baby. He refused to justify money for baby clothes or furniture. He even jokingly asked if she planned to keep it or if it was even his.

When her youngest was finally born, to little family fanfare, Norma named him after herself because Sam hadn't bothered to take her to the hospital, come to see his son born or even pick her up.

She didn't even have a proper car seat for her newborn when she had a friend drive them home and the bitter memory of such a perfect little newborn baby being so unloved by his father still hurt her.

Then there was her own father. A violent, giant of a man who hated his daughter just for being alive and always in the way. He would pull on her hair, slap her face and push her worse than any school yard bully. She never felt safe in her own home. Caleb always putting himself between her and their father when he was especially angry.

These were wounds so deeply made, not even Alex's love could heal them. Not even thinking of Alex holding Norman with one arm that first time. Of Alex pulling Dylan out of the cold bay waters and building them a fire. When Shelby had come by after they had found out when he'd been up to and she'd had such a horrible panic attack she thought she'd die. Alex calmly keeping her safe and she believed that he always would.

It was a new sensation to have her pregnancy now cared for. Her new baby wanted and protected by its' father.

Norma relaxed contentedly for a moment and enjoyed the feeling of being looked after, before her anxieties that someone else was in her kitchen got the better of her.

~ "Thought I told you to stay in bed, Mrs. Romero." Alex scolded kindly before lowering the heat on a frying pan.

"You did." she told him opening the fridge and pulling out sliced cheese. "I figure you're not going to arrest me, Sheriff."

"Well, I do have handcuffs." he warned casually.

Norma smiled.

"I'm perfectly capable of helping you to make grilled cheese sandwiches, Alex." she told him.

"Ingrid and Dylan were making fun of me when I couldn't make pancakes." he sighed glancing at her carefully.  
"They're so mean sometimes." Norma shook her head.  
"Tell me about it." Alex muttered. "Sorry I was so… upset before." he nodded in her direction.

"It's nice that you were upset. I've never had anyone worry about me like you have. This baby is very lucky." she told him sadly.

Alex let out a long sigh and shrugged.

"I'm just… worried." he admitted as she buttered some bread with ease.

"That he or she might be like Norman?" she asked casually. It had been a fear that played in her own mind since she realized her condition. She could understand that Alex might be worried their own child would have autism to.

"Oh no." Alex said quickly and shook his head. "Norman doesn't worry me at all. He minds his business and collects buttons and rocks all day. Not like those other two monsters."

"Alex!" Norma gasped in shock but immediately smiled.

"It's true." he said. "I just… I never held a baby before. Never… I mean…"

He shrugged helplessly.

"You took care of Norman when he was younger." she reminded him and started cooking while her husband watched.

"He wasn't a baby. He… I mean. Babies get sick." he said.

"Yes, they do." Norma admitted. "Are you worried this baby will have a deformity?"

She looked at him for answers and saw his face was lined with new worry. Now she wished she hadn't said anything.

"If there is a problem… I mean, we can handle it." he said slowly.

"There won't be a problem, Sheriff." she assured him confidently. "I've have two perfect pregnancies and I'm not under the same kind of stress I was before. Plus this baby has really good genetics on its' side." she winked at him and smiled.

Alex gave her a knowing look and she felt her skin grow warm as he watched her cook their simple dinner. It reminded her of when he first started to shyly come to her home and they would fix meals together.

"I need to make an appointment with Doctor Bloch. You're right about that." Norma agreed when she turned off the stove and handed Alex his plate. "Just to make sure everything is… you know… good."

"You go to Doctor Bloch and the whole town will know. His staff doesn't know the meaning of the word privacy I'm afraid." Alex suggested. "Small town, small minds. They consider it their duty to spread news of any pregnancy."

"Well, that might not be a bad thing." Norma said and felt a little queasy at the thought of eating dinner. She hadn't had much of an appetite and knew the morning sickness was coming. With Dylan and Norman she'd actually lost weight in the beginning. Her vomiting had been that problematic. She'd have to find a way to hide that from Alex or else he'd worry.

Although she wasn't hungry, she made herself take a bite when she caught him looking at her curiously. She knew in his mind, she should be starving. In fact, she'd never had an increased appetite with any pregnancy before.

She put on a brave face and started eating.

"I was thinking I should go with you." Alex said. "First appointment."

"It will be boring." she warned.

Alex shrugged.

"You know, you don't have to keep treating me like I'm so breakable, Alex." she reminded him. "I'm pretty tough."

"I'm not treating you like you were breakable." Alex said defensively. A smile starting to lighten up his face.

Norma grinned and he nodded.

"Alright." he agreed. "I promise."

~ Ingrid noticed the change with her parents as soon as she arrived home.

Her dad had come to pick her and Dylan up from the small local airport and she wondered why her mother wasn't there. It had been over two months since she had seen them and she felt sure that she would want to greet them right away.

Dylan talked no stop about his stupid summer camp and how he'd ridden horses and climbed mountains. Something he could have done in White Pine Bay.

Ingrid had enjoyed her summer to and actually made a few friends who she could now email. She'd found a very tribe like community that finally made her feel like less of an outsider. If only she could live with the wild bohemians all the time.

When they arrived home, Ingrid saw her mother looked especially tired and her face was puffy. Her skin was practically luminous but that was dulled by the dark circles now present under her eyes. She was also going around the house barefoot, something she never did before.  
"Mom?" Ingrid asked suspiciously.

The house was clean, but not as clean as their mother normally kept it. A pile of laundry was left undone in the laundry room and she noticed that there was some project in the barn happening. Something to do with furniture.

It wasn't until that night, when her mother brought her homemade cookies to her room as a welcome home present, that Ingrid's suspicions were confirmed.

"How was camp?" Norma breathed and thought her daughter looked like she had gotten some fresh air and more sunlight.

"Fine." Ingrid said tersely. "Dad says I can go back next year."

"I'm glad you liked it." Norma and encouraged Ingrid to help herself to the cookies she'd made.

"You really think now is the best time to have a baby, mom?" Ingrid asked with little interest in baked goods.

Norma froze and stared in amazement at Ingrid. Dylan and Norman didn't have a clue, but she could tell Ingrid couldn't be fooled for a second. She was like Alex in the fact that they were always keeping their eyes and ears open. It occurred to her that Ingrid would make an excellent detective one day.

Norma wanted to ask how she could possibly know, she wasn't even seven weeks into the pregnancy yet, when Ingrid shrugged.

"Your face is puffy, you're exhausted and dad is being way more protective of you than usual." Ingrid answered. "He keeps putting his hands around your waist and was helping out more with the housework."

"Ingrid." Norma sighed.

"Four kids." her daughter said. "You're officially in big family territory."

"You want to talk about it?" Norma asked diplomatically.

"Nothing to talk about. I'm not the one having a baby. No one even asked me before you and dad decide to change our lives."

"You'll be a big sister. This kid is going to look up to you and Dylan." Norma reminded her.

"I just think its' super selfish to have a baby." Ingrid said heartlessly. "With Norman having his problems-"

"Norman doesn't have any problems." Norma said harshly. "If anything, he's the best behaved out of everyone."

"Are you and dad prepared to support Norman for the rest of his life? What if it comes to that? What if this baby is just like Norman? Or worse?" Ingrid accused. "We have a nice life here. Why spoil it?"

"You're just worried your dad will love the baby more than you." Norma said gently.  
"I'm just being practical." Ingrid told her smartly.  
"Well, stop it." Norma snapped suddenly. She felt very tired all of the sudden and wanted to go to bed early.

Ingrid looked mutinous but said nothing.

"I know everything is going to change for us, but it's going to be a good change." Norma tried to compose herself.

"Whatever." Ingrid shrugged and pushed the cookies away. "I'm not hungry."

 **Sorry it took so long to update. I haven't been busy but the weather really has me feeling down. I had my 40th birthday this past week but the ice and sleet here in Texas meant we had to cancel plans.**

 **On the plus side, I'm planning a trip to ROME in the fall with my girl Hannah. She's now cancer free and I think a trip to Italy is in order! It's the kind of thing Dad would want me to do. Travel to another country.**

 **Loved reading all your feedback. I'm not too thrilled with this chapter and I would love to hear feedback about where you want this story to go next. Do you want another time jump? Is it important to describe the birth? Do you want Norma's mother to come into the picture or Alex's birth mother to come back?**

 **I even have a plan to bring back Shelby! Tell me what you want to read! - Leah**


	133. Chapter 133

133.

~ Dylan and Norman had taken the news of an impending sibling with a grain of salt. Not that they thought that their parents were lying to them about the new addition, but it was hard to believe.

Especially with their mother still looking as trim as always. Women who were going to have babies had a much larger stomach. Everyone knew that. Their mother looked just the same as always, she just seemed to want to sleep more and ate less.

"It's called morning sickness, dingus." Ingrid snapped and scratched her bow across the violin strings menacingly.

The three Romero children were in their secretive hiding place. The second story of the barn where their mother didn't venture to and their father didn't care to look for them. Here, the three of them were perfectly insulated from the cool rain of the upcoming fall. The old furniture covered in plastic looking like ghosts whenever a wayward gust of wind would come up.

For now though, there was still enough light, and the place wasn't too scary. Not until Ingrid and Dylan decided it was a good idea to bring out the ouija board they made and try and summon sprits.

Surprisingly, Norman wasn't the one who was scared of the homemade ouija board. He would laugh at his brother and sister jumping at shadows in the dark and trying to not be afraid. For whatever reason, he felt no fear of ghosts or evil here. Hadn't he and Chick chased them all away with the magic?

"It's why she looks thinner." Ingrid told her brother sharply pulling out a long note and glaring at him hatefully.

"She never wants to eat." Norman reminded her. He'd been a little worried abut that. Normally their mother ate with them and lately, she left more than half her food on the plate.

"She probably doesn't want to get sick." Ingrid says. "Less food to throw up."

"Gross." Dylan winced. "I hate being sick."

"You had food poisoning once, stop being such a drama queen. Women have to put up with this all the time." Ingrid told him.

"Why does she have to have morning sickness?" Norman asked simply. It seemed slightly unfair that their dad didn't have to suffer in the slightest.

"It's just the baby growing." Ingrid told him. "Her body has to adjust to it. Its' normal and in a few weeks it will be fine."

"Are you sure?" Norman asked. "How do you know?"

"I read about it. We discuss these kinds of things in school." Ingrid told him.  
"Is that why girls always go to the bathroom together?" Dylan asked.  
"No, we go to the bathroom together so we can do witchcraft on boys. Autumn Rosewater but a hex on you because you threw a doge ball at her." Ingrid told him.

"The game was dodge ball! You're supposed to throw the ball at people!" Dylan said defensively. He didn't like the idea of the girls doing witchcraft on him and had no doubt that they could. Especially if Ingrid was involved.

"Mother won't die will she?" Norman asked worriedly.  
"No." Ingrid shook her head and made a face. "Women only died in childbirth back in the olden days. No one dies in childbirth now. Mom's young and healthy and she's had kids before. Besides, she not going to give birth in a log cabin or something. She's going to a hospital. If anything goes wrong they can fix it. A lot of those baby hospitals are like hotels now."

"Can we go with her?" Norman asked.

"No." Ingrid told him. "Young kids like you have too many germs and they might not let you in till the baby is a few days old and has more immunity."

"How do you know all this?" Dylan asked suspiciously.

"I told you, school. And girls know everything about this." she snapped.

Dylan shook his head.

"Do you think the baby will be a boy or a girl?" he asked.

"Mom want's a girl. She bought a pink lamp for the nursery Chick is redoing." Ingrid said.

"Do you think dad wants a boy?" Dylan asked worriedly.

"All men want a boy. It's an anthropological thing." she told him.

"It's a what?" Dylan asked.

"Dad already has us." Norman pointed out helpfully. "He already has two boys."

"Yeah but he wants his **own** child. Not adopted kids. We're related to mom by blood and dad only because he married her." Dylan reminded his brother.  
Norman's face fell. He didn't remember his real father. Hardly knew much about him except what the kids cruelly chanted at him int he school yard.

 _"_ _Sheriff shot your daddy._ "

It wasn't a terribly clever chant, but Norman had discovered from them that his real father had been shot and killed by his step father when he was barely three years old. Long before Alex Romero even became Sheriff or married his mother. The school kids had great fun at his expense telling him how Sheriff Romero only killed his real dad to marry his mother. That Sheriff Romero was cold hearted and mean and would kill anyone.

They would stop when the teacher overheard and there had been some special meeting that meant Norman was moved to a more docile classroom. His mother hated that he was in the special education class, especially when he could already read better than anyone thanks to Ingrid, but what could she do? His new class was much more comfortable and he was allowed to go to the school library alone when all his schoolwork was done. He would spend the rest of his time reading or watching educational movies alone in the cozy school library. His teachers saying he was reading and doing the school work of a typical forth grader. The same kind of problems Dylan was working on.

Ingrid would usually wander in before school let out and they would silently walk to the music room together. Ingrid practiced violin and Norman fiddled with other instruments. Finding one that suited him best. The school's music teacher, Mrs. Guise, allowing them the privilege to playing since Ingrid was a music prodigy and it was possible Norman could be one as well.

So aside from the occasional mean kid who teased him about his real father, school wasn't bad at all.

Norman hardly remembered anything about the night his real father died. He remembered a big, angry man with sour breath. That his mother had been scared and that Dylan had run away. He remembered his mother bleeding. The red color making him nervous.

Then he heard loud shouting and the sounds were muffled. Then there was a bang and a long time of nothing. He didn't remember too much. Just his dad, Alex Romero, not Sam Bates, had lifted him up and he felt very safe. He remembered being told his mother was safe and he was going to see her. Remembered being sleepy. Remembered being covered with a blanket and crossing the kitchen. No one had thought he saw, but he did. He saw that big, angry man sprawled out on his mother's kitchen floor.

Red was everywhere. Red, red, red and Norman knew it was blood. He could taste it in the air and it tasted metallic and strange. He saw the big man looked pale because he had none of the red blood inside him and that's why he was dead.

Ever since that night, Norman could hardly stand to look at the color red. It had gotten better. Red was hard to avoid sometimes, but it almost always made him queasy and scared.

What if he were to get hurt and bleed like Sam did? What if he bled all over is mother's kitchen floor? Would she be upset by all the red?

What if mother had the baby and she bled too much? He knew such a thing happened. Even if Ingrid said it didn't. People still died all the time.

"What if…" Norman asked nervously. His heart beating a chaotic rhythm. "What if mother dies?"

"Women like mom don't die, Norman." Ingrid said. "Mom will be telling you what to do when you an old man. Remember?"

"What if she does?" Norma asked.  
"On the off chance she did die…" Ingrid shrugged. "Dad would take care of us. Or I guess would have take care of him."

"Yeah." Dylan groaned. "Mom spoiled him."

"Tell me about." Ingrid huffed.

"You think dad will like this new baby more than us if it's a boy?" Dylan asked.

"Dad already has two boys." Norman pointed out again. "He has us."

"I don't know. This baby will be his. Not adopted." she admitted.

"You worried if it's a girl?" Dylan asked.

Ingrid shrugged.  
"I don't know."

"You won't be the favorite anymore." Dylan pointed out.

Norman was horrified. When had Ingrid been the favorite? Hadn't he always been the favorite?

"I'll always be the favorite, R-Tard" she snapped.  
"I'm not an R-Tard." Dylan moaned.

"Are so."

"Not."

"Why am I not the favorite?" Norman asked suddenly.

"I'm the favorite girl, you're the favorite boy." Ingrid clarified. Norman nodded. That made sense. Like homecoming king and queen.

"Yeah but I'm dad's favorite boy. Norman can be mom's favorite boy." Dylan pointed out.

"I'm still the favorite girl." Ingrid said spitefully.

"For now." Dylan reminded her.

~ Norma felt a certain amount of self loathing creep in at the idea she'd accomplished so little today. She'd gotten up, denied herself coffee, and bravely held off her morning sickness till Alex had taken the kids to school.

After being violently ill and regretting eating so much dinner last night, Norma took a shower and then a nap.

Graceland, sensing her mistress wasn't well, joined her in the bed and cuddled up next to her. The big dog's presence was a comfort to Norma. Giving her the feeling of being protected and less alone in the large farm house.

She and Graceland slept till noon when Norma got up, tried not to get sick again, and ate some toast with very salty butter. She drank plenty of water and did some light cleaning before exhaustion chased her back to bed again. Graceland close behind and acting as her best friend till all this morning sickness passed.

She tried to read a little but soon fell asleep and only woke up when she the phone rang.

"Norma, I heard the craziest rumor from Gail Tomas down at Doctor Bloch's office." Ed Warren laughed.

"It's not crazy." Norma smiled and was surprised the rumor mill in White Pine Bay had taken so long to reach him.

"You're _pregnant_?" Ed asked. His tone wasn't one of disbelief or happiness, but almost of horror.

"Yes. About nine weeks now." Norma sighed. She ran hand over her abdomen which was already growing hard.

She heard Ed's silence over the other end of the line.

"Ed?" she asked.  
"I'm here… I just thought… I mean you and Alex." he stammered.

"What?" she laughed. "We wanted kids."

"I know." he said at last. "I just…" he fumbled and Norma sensed he wanted to say something else but lacked the words.

"Well, congratulations." he said at last. His words slightly bitter and Norma didn't think he was happy for her at all. If rumors around town had been that she was divorcing Alex Romero, she was sure Ed Warren would call her up over the moon with happiness. Never mind his own wife and two little boys.

"Thank you." she said coolly. "Maybe when I'm feeling better, you and Renee can come over for dinner."

"You're not feeling well?" Ed questioned sharply.

"Just some morning sickness." Norma assured him. "It's leaving me a little tired."

She didn't remember being this tired with Dylan or Norman. She wondered how she did it in the first place. Probably because she had to. She didn't have a husband who made sure everyone was fed and kids who cleaned up after themselves. She had to do it all, and if she didn't, she was a bad mother.

"Well, I'll let you rest." Ed said softly. "I'll call you later tough."

"Alright." Norma sighed.

She heard Ed click off the line and shook her head.

' _Best not to tell Alex about that phone call._ ' she decided.


	134. Chapter 134

_**WARNING! I know not a lot of true Normero fans will like this chapter, but I wanted to include it because I feel like every pregnant woman has felt this way.**_

 _ **I MAY take little break from this story soon to work on other NORMERO stories that are boring into my mind and need to get out. Namely some erotica.**_

 ** _I haven't stopped writing even though my Instagram profile is now private._**

134.

~ As Norma predicted, the morning sickness didn't last long. It was soon replaced by the feeling of constant hunger that she just couldn't ignore.

All her life, Norma had always been a slender girl. She had been small for her age and never had much of an appetite. When she was younger, this was a good thing because of how she and her family lived. Such a harsh upbringing became a habit for her well into adult hood of keeping her own meals small. She just didn't have the desire to eat very much and never had to worry about her weight.

While pregnant with Dylan, she ate more, but didn't gain too much. The same was true for Norman. Instead, her body told her she needed more and to eat more, but not too much. Her belly progressed with the pregnancy as it was supposed to, and she never thought anything of it. In fact, Dylan hardly showed his presence at all. It wasn't until a month before Norma delivered him did she even really look pregnant. The nurses helping her undress and saw her stomach was slightly rounded and wondered how she could be at full term.

Now, with Alex's baby, things were different. Maybe it was because she was a little older. Maybe because this was her third child and her body had adapted to its' role of procreation. Whatever the reason, she disliked the changes.

She realized her morning sickness was over when she woke up in the middle of the night starving.

She ended up abandoning her sleeping husband in bed and heating up a small frozen pizza in the microwave in the dead of night. It was the kind of meal Alex would have eaten in his lonely bachelor days and which Norma hated, but kept for the boys in the freezer. Just then however, it was greasy, cheesy and delicious.

Her body was thanking her for the food and wanting more even as she at the last bite. Norma feeling a little sad that her midnight snack had come to an end and went to the fridge to make herself a sandwich.

~ Alex was relieved his wife was eating again. Her morning sickness and only pretending to eat had scared him. It was the sudden way her cheekbones stuck out and the way her spine was visible with the weight loss.

All those fears were relived now when she found her appetite and didn't seem appalled by any foods anymore. She no longer cared if they ordered take out or if a dish was healthy or not.

Instead, she had a slightly manic glint in her eye if a particularly graphic burger commercial came on TV and he was only happy that she was feeling well enough to eat again.

All too soon though, as these thing happen, the other shoe dropped.

~ Norma found she was at the stage of her pregnancy where she felt she didn't look pregnant, she just felt she looked a little… well, fat. Her stomach was certainly distended from pregnancy, but her face had filled out to. In Norma's mind at least, she could only see the imperfections.

She only saw the puffiness of her cheeks and chin, her swollen breasts that strained against her once well fitting dress. Her stomach, not pronounced and rounded like it should have been, but seeming to hold more uncomfortable girth.

She felt like no one would think she was going to have a baby, they would just call her overweight and make snide comments about how she'd let herself go.

It didn't help matters that Alex was as enviably good looking as ever.

"You'll feel better once you have new clothes." He'd insisted that morning while Norma watched him drink coffee and easily fit into his own uniform for work. She didn't want to be spiteful about it, but it wasn't fair that men never had to suffer the radical changes and sacrifices of the body women had to.

Alex's life had barely had a hiccup with the new baby on the way. He hadn't had to give up caffeine or go through morning sickness. He hadn't had to suffer swollen feet or tender anything. He also didn't have to worry about getting his figure back once the baby arrived. Let alone breast feedings that would leaver her exhausted most days.

No, the father could just go one with life as normal.

"You were still going dress shopping today right?" Alex asked sweeping away the kids dishes while Norma watched him toss the last of his coffee down the sink.

"They won't have anything I like." Norma sighed. "Even my feet have gotten fatter."

"You're not fat." Alex corrected gently. "Stop saying that."

"I never gained this much with Norman or Dylan." she said helplessly. She had to readjust her ill fitting bra again. When she was sixteen and expecting Dylan, she just wore oversized sweatshirts and hardly had to make any real adjustments to her clothes.

"You look beautiful." Alex reminded her for the hundredth time that week.

Norma groaned petulantly.

~ The only mother and baby shop in town was run by a pair of gossipy women who felt it was their place to obtain all the information they could about the Sheriff's wife and their expectant child.

They looked at Mrs. Romero, almost hurt, when she didn't indulge them in relentless questions about her marriage, her other children and most of all, how the ever stoic Sheriff Romero felt about being a father.

"I imagine he must be a little excited." the older, less tactful sales woman said. "To finally be a father."

"He already is a father." Norma corrected shaking her head at the ghastly blue dress with a wide pink bow in the front. Where did they find that? In a cartoon show?

"We have three other kids at home." Norma added thankful to have found a simple top and pants that would hopefully see her through the rest of the pregnancy. They weren't stylish, but they would do.

"Well, I mean a **real** child." the sales woman corrected brightly. "You know, not step-children. It's always different for a man when it's his real child. Trust me, I went through it with my daughter Kimberly. I married my third husband, her step-father, when she was five and I thought he would love her like his own until we had our real children. After that, he wanted nothing to do with Kimberly and I had to make a choice. She was better off with her aunt in Iowa anyway."

~ Norma felt slightly sick at the sales women when she left the shop. She was glad she hadn't spent a lot of money and made a mental note to have Ingrid order her some maternity clothes online. Already Ingrid was becoming a computer genius and buying all sorts of things online to save them the energy of going out. Norma especially liked that her daughter bought all of Norman's clothes at some shop online and did so without being asked or told to. Norman was pleased enough that his new clothes spared him the stress of having to shop.

Norma figured it would be just as easy to buy things for herself now to. She didn't want to go back to that store where those awful women were.

~ "How long has Bob Paris been back?" Alex asked Rebecca curtly. The slender redhead smiled her tight, hateful smile and shrugged.

"About a month." she said. "He wanted to see his daughter and that was about it. I think he just had some lose ends to tie up." she said.

"Why are you telling me this?" Sheriff Romero asked suspiciously.

"Because Bob doesn't want you to know he's back in town." Rebecca said easily. "Doesn't want people to know he's even back in the states."

"Aren't you betraying his trust?" Alex asked. "You two have a… history together."

"So do we." Rebecca reminded him. "But Bob Paris left me alone oversees and he knew I was pregnant. Knew I was back here in White Pine Bay all this time and he never made an attempt to see me or our daughter. Never gave us a dime in child support either. I think he's wanted by the FBI."

"He is." Alex nodded. "Tax evasion."

"I can tell you where he's going to be next week." Rebecca told him.

"So this is just revenge for you?" he asked. "After all these years?"

"Revenge is best served cold, Alex." she mused.

Alex glanced at his paperwork and avoided looking at her. He had his misgivings about seeing her today. Even with the promise of arresting Bob Paris.

It wasn't that he didn't trust himself around Rebecca. Those feeling for her went out the window years ago. It was because he hated her so much for what she'd done to Norman and the hurt she'd caused his wife.

As if reading his mind, Rebecca purred.

"I hear your wife is expecting. Hope this baby won't be like that other kid of hers."

Alex glanced at the family picture Norma had framed and placed on his desk. The three kids smiling brightly with Norman settled comfortably between Ingrid and Dylan. Alex and Norma protectively bookending the older children. It was the only picture they had where Norman looked relaxed enough to look directly into the camera. The only picture where he seemed happy.

"Get out." Sheriff Romero said in a soft voice that belied the current of danger he was capable of.

"Still so damn sensitive." Rebecca huffed and stood up. She seemed unbothered by the idea that she'd upset him. In her mind, her horrible words were someone else's problem.

"What about Bob Paris?" she asked as Alex escorted her out of his office.

"I'll call the FBI and maybe I'll tell them you've been harboring a known fugitive." he warned.

"I cam here offering you an easy arrest." Rebecca spat. She whipped her long red hair back and looked him over with disdain.

"Nothing with you is ever easy." Alex reminded her.

His eyes caught a glimpse of blond hair and a familiar blue sweater he'd recognize anywhere. He looked quickly to the station's waiting room to see his wife glaring sharply at him with Rebecca. Her face crumpled and hurt.

~ Before her husband could stop what he was doing, or try and catch her, Norma quickly left the sheriff's station. She felt especially awkward in her ill fitting clothes and shoes that were hurting her feet. It didn't help matters that Clarice had remarked on how big she was getting and that Sheriff Romero was in a meeting. To wait there, wanting to talk to him after that awful experience in the shop, wanting him to reassure her that they were okay, had been hard enough. Everyone looking at her as though she were a zoo attraction and they had a right to openly stare.

To see her husband emerge from his office with Rebecca. Her body looking thin as ever in a red and black dress made Norma's heart sink.

When Alex saw her, he looked guilty and Norma didn't wait around to talk to him.

~ "I thought that was you." a cheerful voice, the first honestly cheerful voice she'd heard all day, called behind her.

Norma was almost to her car when she turned to see Ed Warren hurrying to catch up to her. His large hands immediately reaching out to her belly and his eyes growing bright with happiness.

"Norma, you look amazing!" he said happily.

She wanted to kick him in the shins and would have to if her feet hadn't hurt so much.

"I don't feel amazing." she said sulkily.

Ed gave her a sympathetic nod and smiled warmly again.

"Well, would some ice cream cheer you up?" he offered.

Norma glance back at the Sheriff's station and wondered why Alex hadn't followed her out. Surely he'd seen her. That guilty and surprised look on his face infuriated her.

"Yes." she said petulantly. "I'd like that."

~ "Don't listen to Margo Resse." Ed told her once she'd eaten half a lemon ice-cream bar. "She's not lying when she said she sent her own daughter away because her new husband didn't want her. Now she's on husband number five."

"What if Alex feels the same way?" Norma sulked. She'd never said it out loud before, but that fear still rang in her head. "What if this baby comes and he wants nothing to do with the other kids?"

"I doubt that will happen." Ed told her rationally. "He's been completely devoted to the boys since day one. Ingrid to."

Norma nodded. She wanted to believe him.

"How did you feel when the boys were born?" she asked. She knew better than to mention the boys just now. Renee and Ed were having difficulties and she'd taken them back to New York for the past month. Such a thing had been hard on Ed and the subject of a lot of gossip in town.

"Like I would do anything for them. They're a part of me." Ed said simply. "I miss them."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." Norma sighed. "I'm just feeling sorry for myself."

Ed shook his head.

"It's alright. Renee will come back."

Norma doubted it. But she nodded.


	135. Chapter 135

135.

~ Alex felt his heart jump at seeing his wife at the sheriff's station. He saw the look of shocked horror on her face from behind the waiting room glass. It was almost exactly the same expression she wore the first time they ever met. That rainy night he'd arrested Sam Bates. It was a defeated and saddened expression that seemed to make her appear so much older.

His first reaction was to somehow hide Rebecca's presence beside him and, quickly realizing that would be impossible, his next feeling, was one of guilt.

They had never really talked about their little Rebecca problem. Not since Norman's rabbits were killed. Norma had never cared for the slender, hyper sexual redhead and didn't hide the fact she hated her. So great was Norma's dislike, that she and Alex did all their banking in the nearby town of Fairfield. It was inconvenient, but probably for the best.

After all, Rebecca, had kidnapped Norman, trashed Norma's car, tried to break into her house and that was just the start of the all the trouble.

Just now, how could Alex explain that he was standing next his wife's mortal enemy? Someone who'd caused his family so much distress over the years.

"Sheriff?" Clarice interrupted as Norma quickly slipped away. Alex wanted to go after her, but he already knew what Clarice was going to tell him.  
"Sheriff, line one is for you. An Agent Harvey with the DEA." Clarice said.

Romero glared at Rebecca as if she'd orchestrated this bad timing.

"Agent Harvey is our contact. He's going to want to talk to you about Bob." he said coldly.

"Fine." Rebecca shrugged.

Romero looked back at the waiting room and saw Norma was long gone. He had to settle Agent Harvey first. Get Rebecca to give her statement about Bob Paris again and set up other arrangements. He would have to explain to Norma, as best he could, later.

"We'll put you in interrogation room one." Romero nodded wincing as his hand went to the small of her back.

~ "Will you two stop it?" Ed scolded as Norma tried to suppress a school girl giggle. Chelsea Warren threaded Norma's wedding ring around a thick white string before examining the brilliant stone.

"This is a beautiful ring." she noted while Norma smoothed over her dress so she wouldn't look so out of place laying on the Warren's kitchen table.

"It was Alex's grandmother's." Norma told her proudly.

"Good." Chelsea nodded. "Something that's been in his family is always good."

"How is this **not** witchcraft?" Norma asked with a smile and rested her hands protectively over the rise in her stomach. She hadn't felt the baby move yet, but she knew any day now it would happen.

"Because real witchcraft is harmless." Ed sighed in boredom. "It wasn't until King James came along and outlawed it that we get theses witch hunt stories."

"Typical men." Chelsea agreed. "Fearing women."

"I thought the bible said-" Norma asked tentatively.

"No, it was King James." Ed said quickly.

"We don't need a history lesson." Chelsea snapped

She allowed Norma's wedding ring to slip out of her hands and swing openly in front of her stomach.

"If it's in a circle, it's a girl. If it's back a forth…" Chelsea said. "It's a boy."

Norma tried not to grin, but she caught Ed smiling at her and couldn't help it.

Chelsea wasn't amused and rolled her eyes.

"After Norma's done, Ed, we can find out the gender of your baby." she said nodding to her brother.

Norma let out a loud laugh of delight when Ed gently patted his stomach which had gotten rounder with married life. He didn't seem upset by his weight gain or his sister slamming him for it. Weight gain never troubled men the way it did women.  
"Its' **sympathy pounds**." he told Chelsea who was watching Norma's ring move. "I didn't want my friend here to be the only one getting bigger."

"Norma is creating a beautiful new life." Chelsea told him. "You just have no self control."

Norma smiled and her hands fluttered to her belly which still felt too wide at this stage of her pregnancy. Doctor Bloch had already confirmed she wasn't having twins, but she hadn't been in yet to see the gender. Alex had wanted it to be a surprise, but Norma hadn't liked the idea of not knowing what the sex was.

When Chelsea offered to do an old midwives trick, Norma had quickly agreed. Ed had taken her back to the Warren's massive house where things were quite and felt so different from her own home.

The Warren's house was just as old as the Romero's farm house, yet it felt far more heavy somehow. Almost oppressive. They Warrens had just as many old family pictures on the wall, but Ed's clan seemed gloomy and harsh with always unsmiling faces. These were the kind of photographs that would inspire ghost stories.

Then there was the house itself. Ed had meticulously kept it as a living museum of sorts. A house where hardly anything changed in century. Even the wallpaper, heavy drapes and furniture remained consistent to the style of the era it was built. It was like Ed expected his dead relatives to return to this house one day, and he wanted to be ready.

Norma remembered thinking that the house was beautiful to look at from a distance, but once you were up close, it lost a lot of the romance. She decided that growing up in a house like this would have scared her as a child. Especially since she was the type of little girl who believed in ghosts that haunted houses like this one.

"Good news." Chelsea smiled mischievously. "Sheriff Romero is going to have a house full of beautiful women to torment him."

Norma looked at her wedding ring spinning in a slow, perfect circle and bit her lip to keep from smiling.

"Well, as long as he's **tormented**." she said happily.

Chelsea scooped up her ring and gave it back to her.

"Men like Sheriff Romero will be terrified of their own daughters. They know what do with sons, obviously. But girls, especially when they become teenagers, are they scariest thing in the world." she said.

"It's true." Ed chimed in. "I still have nightmares about girls from middle school."

"He's not afraid of Ingrid." Norma reminded them.

"That's cuz Ingrid isn't like a normal girl." Chelsea said casually.

"We like to call her our super villain." Norma told her.

Ed rolled his eyes and Chelsea only nodded in agreement.

Norma had to wonder why she and Chelsea weren't friends. Why they didn't spend more time together. She didn't have a lot of friends because work, school and family had always kept her so occupied. Yet, she had always had a keen distrust of other women. Maybe it was because her own mother had failed her so badly. Maybe it was because of women like Rebecca. She hadn't been able to be friends with another woman since Sybil died and she sorely missed the relationship.

"Sheriff Romero is going to be so helplessly in love with his daughter." Chelsea warned. "He won't ever let her date or get married. She might as well be a nun."

"You might be right." Norma agreed.  
"I can read your tarot cards to if you want." Chelsea added while Ed helped her off the table.

"You read tarot cards for Ingrid. Right?" Norma asked.

"Occasionally." Chelsea nodded. "I used to do it professionally when I lived in San Fransisco. It's a decent living with the tourists."

Norma nodded but didn't ask anything else. She didn't want to bring up Ingrid's past in front of Ed.

"I really should get home." she sighed. "It's been a long day and I need a nap."

"Sure I can't drive you home?" Ed asked again walking her to the door.

"I have my car." Norma reminded him taking in the well decorated hallway that looked the same as it did when Ed and Chelsea's Aunt was still alive.

"Are you going to be okay?" Ed asked.

"Of course." Norma smiled but felt her sprits deflate a little. She'd found it harder and harder to be happy as the days went on. Her body changing so rapidly and the discomfort she felt was only growing. She didn't want to think about seeing Rebecca with Alex, but couldn't help it. The vision of them together, looking like they belonged together, felt like a sharp pain in her chest.

"You know, you can always talk to me." Ed said. "About anything."

"I know that." Norma nodded quickly. "Today was nice. It was good to catch up and see Chelsea again."  
"I feel like you and I never talk to each other anymore." Ed added sadly. "We used to. We used to talk all the time. Remember?"

Norma knew where he was going with this and was about to say something when the doorbell rang. A hallow sounding gong like ringing back and forth that Norma suspected meant it was an actual world fashioned pull bell, and not an electronic doorbell. Ed Warren's family would never stoop so low as to install an electronic doorbell.

"Ed, get the damn door!" Chelsea shouted from the kitchen in back.

Ed glanced back at his sister in annoyance and looked at the acid etched widows that would open to an enclosed foyer and to the front door. The Warren's home was one where they could receive visitors in a respectable interior foyer where the doors shut off to the rest of the house and kept the front door shut as well. This was intended for unexpected visitors, who were still permitted inside, but without letting them inside the actual house.

Norma couldn't see beyond the neatly acid etched glass. Not until Ed opened the large front door to the outside porch and she saw her husband standing there. His dark eyes cutting suspicious glances between the two of them.

 **I know this was a short chapter. I wanted to update something this weekend.**


	136. Chapter 136

136.

~ It felt better to be home again. It always felt better to come home where you knew how things were and you knew you were safe and surrounded by the people and the things you love.

After the suffocating nature of the Warren's house, Norma was glad to be in her own home again. Even the air was different here now that fall was snapping at their heels and there wasn't this heaviness or feeling like it was about to rain about her.

The Warren home always felt like that. Like a terrible storm was coming and they had to shut everything away.

The Romero's were different in that they faced the storm directly. Windows open so they could enjoy the rain.

Norma settled herself on the large couch in the living room and was surprised when Alex joined her. It was four in the afternoon and she could hear the kids making a ruckus out by the barn. There was a part of her brain, the old Norma who wasn't tiered all the time, who wondered what they were up to.

Yet, the pregnancy had taken over her motivation and curiosity. Leaving in its' wake a different creature.

Normally, Alex was still at work at four and she was busy with other odds and ends around the house. Even on a weekend, it felt strange to just sit here and do nothing.

"You're reading Tom's new book?" Alex asked conversationally. The Sheriff pulled her legs over his lap and slipped off her shoes.

Norma saw her shoes, already a size bigger than normal, had cut bright red welts into her feet. Her husband's hand's were quick to wrap around the first foot and gently mead it. The warmth and strength of his hands made Norma give out a sigh of relief.

"It's about a serial killer." she said in a childish voice. She was feeling slightly sorry for herself and enjoyed the attention her husband was lavishing upon her.

 _'Why can't it always be like this?_ ' she wondered.

"We never had a serial killer here in White Pine Bay." Alex reminded her. "I thought Tom always based his stories on people he knew."

"The story is really good. The killer keeps taunting the Sheriff and knows him personally. He kept getting away with it and now he won't stop."

"You shouldn't be reading those books, Mrs. Romero." Alex scolded gently. "You should read a nice romance."

"It has romance." Norma insisted brightly. "Yeah, the local Sheriff is torn between this headstrong widow who he can't stop thinking about and this other woman who we all know he won't pick. He keeps going back to the headstrong widow even called her when he had too much to drink. Told her he thought she was beautiful."

"That sounds cheesy." Alex told her. "Tom needs a new career."

Norma smiled. She loved the romantic side of the books Tom wrote. Everyone local who read them knowing the Sheriff was their very own Alex Romero and the headstrong widow was the former 'Bates Woman'.

"Rebecca had information leading to the arrest of a suspect." Alex said without pre-amble. "Solid information we need to arrest a fugitive who's been on the run for years now."

"Is it Bob Paris?" Norma asked watching the Sheriff work her toes till the swelling went away.

"Yes." he said grimly. "The DEA had to be called in because of Bob's drug connections. He's an international fugitive and if I can help with his arrest…"

"I understand." Norma said although she didn't. She didn't like her husband standing so close to that awful woman.

"Norma, I didn't enjoy talking to her. I didn't forget what she did to our son. What she did to our family."

"She's a mother now." Norma said cooly. "I hope she remembers what she did to my child and lives in fear someone might do it to hers."

"Norma." Alex warned.

"That's all I'm going to say about it." Norma snapped. "I know you don't want to be around her by choice. You had a choice and you chose me. I just don't want to ever see her again."

Her words felt a little harsh. Almost like she'd cast a spell of some kind. Banishing the demon away from her sight.

"Ed Warren." Alex said after a moment of silence.

Norma rolled her eyes.

"Here we go." she said in frustration. "This jealousy won't ever end. Ed Warren isn't the same as Rebecca."

"You were in his house, Norma. Your car was parked in his driveway, that's how I found you." Alex reminded her calmly.

"I was there with his sister. We were talking. It was nice to have some grown up company." she said.

Alex nodded and waited for her to say more.  
"Nothing is going on between Ed and I." she clarified sharply. "His sister did the ring thing."

"What ring thing?" Alex asked as if it was something scandalous.

"You know where they put the wedding ring on a string and let it dangle over the belly to see the gender of the baby." Norma told him.

"Oh, the scientific way." Alex nodded sarcastically.

"Yeah."

"Thought we weren't going to know the gender of the baby till it's here."

"You just called our child an 'it' so I wanted to know the gender." Norma scolded but her lips tickled into a warm smile.

"And?" Alex asked. His expression a little curious.

"She thinks were having a girl." Norma told him after hesitating a little longer than needed.

Alex looked perplexed and stunned.

"You don't want a girl?" Norma teased.

"No, it's not that." Alex said quickly. "I… I just feel like it's going to be a boy."

His hands abandoned her feet and wandered up to her belly which Norma now realized was more pronounced when she was laying down. It road higher than it did when she was pregnant with the boys to. The boys always settled in low. As if they were lazy and needed her hips to rock them to sleep in the womb. This baby, settled herself high. Like a queen.

"Did you want a boy, Sheriff?" Norma asked and felt the first movement of the baby kicking. It felt like an explosion of bubbles that tickled her slightly and she tried to act indifferent.

"I want…" Alex said carefully. "A healthy baby."

"Good answer." she smiled.

She guided his hand over to where the bubbles were still rippling over her stomach and watched his expression change.

"How long has she been doing that?" he asked suspiciously.

"She just started." Norma said.

"That's good, right?" he asked.

"It's very good, Sheriff." she whispered.

The large window that faced her expansive back yard had the curtains pulled back and showed off her fall garden and the green of the surrounding pine trees. She wasn't terribly shocked to see her three other children scurry across the garden like goblins on their way to steal gold.

"Where are they going?" Norma demanded sharply. "Never mind, I don't care." she said just as quickly when she realized she wasn't going chase after them. Her feet felt better after being rubbed on and she needed a nap.

"They'll be fine." Alex said. "We should talk about names. We could name her after Sybil."

"Why would we want to hurt an innocent child like that?" Norma criticized.

"After my mother or my grandmother." he offered.

"No." Norma said immediately. She'd always sensed Ellie's presence in this house since she first realized the baby was coming, but felt this new Romero needed her own name.

"Well, you keep thinking of names, I'm going to make you some tea." Alex said and gently pulled her feet off his lap.

Norma happily picked up her book again and found where she'd left off reading. The brooding Sheriff was hunting for the serial killer and it looked like the next target was the woman he loved.

"Alex?" Norma called after him.

"Yeah?" her husband answered from the kitchen.

"I know you would never have anything to do with Rebecca. Not unless you had to. Not after all she's done. I know you love me. Love us." she said simply.

"Good." he said.

"You know you don't have anything to worry about with Ed Warren. Right?" she asked.

There was silence from the kitchen.

"Alex?"

~ Dylan had discovered the house a week ago and made the mistake of telling Ingrid who of course told Norman.  
"I checked the county records at the library." Ingrid was saying as it started to rain a little. Norman was trailing behind them and pulled the hood up on his rain coat. "The house is still on our property. Still apart of the original farm."

"So it was probably dad's great-grandfather's house." Dylan reasoned as the siblings waded into the denser levels of trees. Here things felt more ancient and the rain made the smell of earth rise up and perfume everything.

"Dad's great-grandfather built our house before the first world war." Ingrid agreed. "The town didn't keep good records of buildings erected on farm lands. Only the ones in town."

"Probably explains why they don't have a record of this place." Dylan nodded when they reached a little clearing that looked mid-evil and frightening at first glance.

Dylan had found it while following his father's instructions for a scout project. Using a metal detector and a map of the property to ping the property lines and chart everything out. He was wanting to get a badge in cartography and enjoyed the practical math involved.

He had no idea there was an entire abandoned house here. That it was buried and forgotten in the woods just a short hike from the house they all lived in now.

The house was small, but still in reasonably good shape. The forest, instead of reclaiming the structure, seemed to have protected it. The original owners pulling large black stones from the earth and creating a ring around their homestead to divert trees from new growth too close to the house.

Unlike the larger farm house that would take its' place, this house was only one story. When Dylan showed it off to Ingram and Norman, suggesting this could be their secret hideout, he wondered why it had been abandoned in the first place.

There was still a cast iron stove that looked old and evil enough. It looked as if it had cooked many meals and had been capable of heating the entire place. The main room looked like it served as both a living room and bedroom for a growing family.

"You mean… everyone slept in one room?" Norman questioned.

"Well, there's only one bedroom." Ingrid nodded to the small back bedroom that didn't even have a door. "I guess the kids all slept out here where it was warmer."

"Like rabbits in a warren." Norman agreed.

Ingrid nodded. She'd been reading to him from her own books and they's gotten to "Watership Down".

"I like having my own room." Norman decided.

"Me to." Ingrid agreed

"I don't know why they abandoned this place. It's nice." Dylan said as he rambled around the kitchen and living room.

"There's no bathroom, genius." Ingrid reminded him. "I imagine they were happy to upgrade to a flushing toilet and indoor plumbing."

Dylan looked around the decaying ruins of the Romero ancestral home and noticed the glaring truth. There wasn't a bathroom at all here.

"I'm sure the woman of the house was glad to get away." Ingrid laughed.

"Where did they go to the bathroom?" Norman asked in horror.

"Outhouse." Ingrid and Dylan said in unison. "We better be careful. We could step in a literal shit hole."

"I'm sure they filled it in." Ingrid said sarcastically.

~ The children spent the rest of the afternoon looking for Dylan's ' _shit hole_ ' and found the remains of what they guessed was an outhouse behind the main structure.

"Can you imagine having to get up and go in the middle of winter?" Ingrid made a face.

Norman didn't care for this creepy place. He didn't like that it wasn't warm and that you had to go outside in the cold to go to the bathroom. He felt very sorry for his dad's relatives now. They were long dead, gone to live with Simon and Ellie and Sybil. But Norman wished he could invite them to come and live with all of them in the new house. They would like it there. His mother could fix a nice dinner for them, play on the piano, and everyone would be safe and warm.

"We can fix this place up. Bathroom or no." Dylan insisted. "Spend summers out here. Just us. It will be our secret. We won't tell the rents."

"It will be nice once the baby is born to have a place to go." Ingrid agreed. "I'm in."

"Norman?" Dylan called from the front porch.

Norman wasn't paying them much attention. Dylan and Ingrid were good at making plans and he was just along for the ride. He didn't like this house, but if Dylan and Ingrid fixed it up like they said they would, it might be nice in the summer. Still, he preferred to be home with mother.

He had wandered a little ways away from the old house to another clearing. The path once more marked by the large stones which eerily forbid anything from growing.

Norman had never seen rocks like that before. Not around here at least. They were black and shinny in the rain. He reached the end of the rock path and looked around. The ground feeling spongy and strange beneath his feet now that he had time to think about it.

He looked down and saw that he wasn't standing on the ground at all, but on old wooden boards. The grass and moss have grown over them and Norman thought for a moment about why the boards were here.

"Norman?" Ingrid was calling and he looked up to see his sister and brother coming to find where he'd wandered off to.

Before Norman could think about the boards anymore, they gave way and sagged revealing he wasn't standing on firm soil at all. He'd been standing on top of a forgotten water well. Not the kind you'd find in a Disney movie, but one that was a simple hole in the ground and lines with more of those black rocks. Rocks that had been invisible under the wooden boards.

"Norman!" Ingrid screamed in terror when he fell and tried to grab ahold of the crumbling boards. The wooden cover of the well disintegrated and he was falling into darkness.


	137. Chapter 137

137.

~ The fall was terrifying and Norman felt his stomach lurch in fear at the idea he didn't know where the bottom was along with the unexpected fall. He wasn't afraid of dying exactly, more of the pain of it hurting.

More than anything, he was afraid of gravity betraying him and of the darkness surrounding him.

The well wasn't dry. Not with the natural environment of Oregon and all the rain they always had. It was a short fall into the blackness and the water was cold and full of strange floating objects that seemed to stir to life when Norman fell in.

His first thought was the water was biting him. The coldness of it was painful and sharp. It penetrated his clothing and numbed his skin so quickly that he could feel himself losing the fight for survival very quickly and any energy he had, was leeching out.

He'd never learned to swim. His mother not trusting the local pool and wanting to wait till he was older for his dad to teach him when the weather was warmer. His dad promising to teach him in the bay where Dylan had learned with the boy scouts. Luckily, although the well was deep, it was closely surrounded by stone walls. More of those black stones that only made his new world darker.

Norman's hands tried to grasp the edges and he could hear his siblings cry and scream for him as though their voices were made of tin. He grasped ahold of the slippery rocks and tried to pull himself up, only to fall back down again. There was a terrifying clarity that he would die down here. Die, just like the others.

Norman looked up to see the opening of the well and he could barely see the light. Barely see Dylan and Ingrid looking down at him. Screaming at him to hold on.

He could feel the strange objects floating around him and at first he thought they were turtles and sticks, but his instincts told him they couldn't be. They floated and sunk back down and were white.

He wasn't afraid of the bones in the well. He wasn't sure if they were human or animals who'd fallen in just like him and were forgotten about. But he didn't want to be around them. He pulled himself up a little more till his body was out of the cold water and realized vaguely he might be able to climb out.

Although his strength was fleeting, he could rest for every foot he climbed. At least for a while. At least he'd be away from those bones.

He managed to pull himself a good ways away from the water before there were no more stones to grab onto and he was forced to cling to the wall of the well. His body pressed to the rocks as they sapped his remaining body heat and he shivered uncontrollably in this dark and forgotten dungeon.

Still, he wasn't terribly afraid. He wasn't sure why. His thoughts keeping him entertained as they always did. He never minded his own company. His own isolation. True, this wasn't as comfortable as his room or when he was with his rabbits, but he wasn't afraid.

 ** _'_** ** _I'd like to be warm right now-I'd like to live like rabbits do-in a warren-under the ground-not like this-but dry and safe-other rabbits keeping me warm-Ingrid and Dylan could be rabbits to-Mother and Dad could be rabbits-So could the new baby-the new baby would be called a kitten-baby rabbits are called kittens-we could all live underground-we could be in a nice warm burrow-all of us together-all of us safe.'_** he thought quickly.

Norman's mind was tumbling over the simple lives he and his family would live as wild rabbits. How they would all sleep together and wouldn't have the same worries as humans. He liked the idea of being a rabbit. His own rabbits had very soft fur and were always huddled together for warmth and safety.

He didn't like to be hugged too much. Not even by mother. But he didn't mind it when things were scary. Or when he was very little and dad would pick him up. His dad was always strong and he understood why people said he was like a bear. Only he didn't understand why he was a 'little bear'.

Norman's dad, Sheriff Romero, wasn't little. Anyone could see that. Norman hoped to be like his dad someday. Strong but very gentle and kind. His dad never hurt him the way his real father did. Never made his mother cry.

Norman knew he'd never be a bear though. He was far too timid. He'd always be a rabbit. That was okay though. He wanted to be a rabbit just now. He wanted to be a nice, warm, furry rabbit sleeping in a dry burrow with plenty to eat and its' family all around it.

He didn't see the large spider slipping down the opening of the well at first. His brain not understanding that it wasn't a spider until it started talking. He only saw the dark ropes, legs and arms. He saw the flashlights shinning down on him like strange stars and he looked away because they were upsetting. He didn't like those flashing lights to shine on his face like that. Didn't want to see the huge dark spider slowly falling down to him.

He looked away, towards the stone wall, when the spider reached him. Again he wasn't afraid of it, and didn't look at it till it called him by his name.

"Norman?" it said. Only, it was in his father's voice and it was very calm and gentle.

Norman looked and saw it was his dad. Saw that Sheriff Romero was in a harness and had used a rope to lower himself down into the well to get him.

"Hi." Norman said weakly.

"You ready to get out of here?" his dad asked conversationally.

Norman clung to the rocks and thought about it. His dad was dangling like a spider and that made him nervous. He didn't like the way he was just hanging there with only ropes holding him up.

"You're going to have to take my hand, son. Take my hand, and then you're going to sit on my lap. There's firemen up there who will pull us both up." his dad said as if reading his thoughts.

Norman was torn. He didn't want to take the chance of falling again. The water was too cold and there were bones down there. The way his dad was just hovering in the air like that was terrifying and he wanted no part of it.

"This rope and harness is meant for men a lot bigger than the two of us together." his dad said as if reading his mind again.

Norman shook his head.

"Your mother isn't going to let you live down here, Norman. Its' time to go home." his dad said.

"Is… is she…she mad?" Norma asked in a strained voice. His teeth chattering now that he found his words.

"Not at you. Dylan and Ingrid are grounded for life. Once you're out of here you're going to be spoiled rotten. You know how your mother is." his dad said casually.

Norman nodded. He pictured turkey pot pies, warm socks and his mother reading to him.

"Norman?" his dad asked.

Norman shook his head. He was afraid now. He didn't want to move. At least here, clinging to the rocks he knew he wouldn't fall again. If he went to his dad now, they both might fall. What if they both fell and died and mother was alone with just Dylan and Ingrid?

"Norman, if you come with me now, I'll tell you a secret. Something only your mother and I know. Ingrid and Dylan don't even know." his dad offered.

Norman's interest was aroused. Here was a new thing indeed! There wasn't much that Dylan and Ingrid didn't know. They knew everything and Norman knew nothing. If his dad told him something that they didn't know, that would be something special.

Norman looked at his dad. Saw that he was still reaching out for him, and nodded.

Norman finally extended his arm and with, frighting strength and quickness, his dad yanked him off the wall and onto his body. Norman yelped but just as quickly, he was resting on his dad's chest as if he were an infant. He could hear his dad's heartbeat and feel the warmth from his body.

"I wasn't ready!" Norman cried.

"I know." His dad said quickly. "I'm sorry."

"No! I'm scared!" Norman moaned pitifully. He wanted back on the wall for some reason. He felt safer on the wall where he had some control. Here he was helpless and his dad's arms were uncomfortably tight wrapped around him. Norman didn't like to be hugged, but his dad wouldn't let him go.

"I've got you. I've got you." his dad kept saying.

Norman moaned at such treachery and wrapped his arms around his dads neck. He could feel the slow tug of the rope and it started to pull them both up.

"So you wanna know the secret?" his dad asked when Norman stopped crying.

"Yeah." Norman groaned.

"Your mom thinks the new baby is a girl. We're going to name her Lilly." his dad said.

"Oh!" Norman felt his spirit lighten at the idea of a little sister. "Lilly. Like in a garden?"

"Exactly." his dad told him.

"I'm glad it's a girl." Norman said. "I don't think a boy would be good."

"Why not?" his dad asked with a slight amount of humor in his voice.

"Mother would want a baby girl. She's never had one before." Norman reasoned.

"That's true." his dad said and Norman could hear the shouting of strangers come closer.

"We can't tell Dylan or Ingrid though. It's a secret." his dad whispered in his ear.

"Okay." Norman said. "Will Lilly be a rabbit kitten?"

"No, Lilly will be a baby human, like you." his dad said effortlessly.

"I was thinking it would be nice to be a rabbit." Norman told him. "We could all be rabbits. Nice and warm. Together."

"We will be warm soon, son." his dad promised when they reached to top.

~ Norma grasped firmly to Ed Warren's hand and felt her heart race when she saw Alex being hoisted from the well with Norman cradled against his chest. Her youngest son was staring wildly at everything and she realized all the flashing lights from the fire trucks and ambulances must scare him.

"The lights are upsetting him." she whispered to Ed.

"It's okay, he's okay." Ed said to her.

"He doesn't need to be more upset right now!" Norma hissed and pushed herself away from Ed and towards the group of firefighters and paramedics who were helping Alex out of the harness.  
One of the paramedics was trying to take Norman away from his dad but the Sheriff wasn't having it.

"I've got him." Romero snapped at the well meaning paramedic. "He doesn't know you."

"Norman!" his mother cried when the rescue workers cleared a path for them.

She and Alex made contact and her husband nodded.

"Is he hurt?" she pleaded.

"I don't think so. Just a little cold." Alex said calmly.

Norma felt her heart melt at seeing how firmly her husband held onto her son. As though he wasn't about to let him fall again.

"Get a cover on that damn well right now!" came a sharp order that Norma recognized as the former Sheriff Tom Wilson. "We don't want anyone else falling in."

She realized in the two hours her son had been down that well, nearly every rescue worker in town had come out to save her son. That it hadn't been just Ed and Chelsea who were there to lend moral support, but Tom and Tess to.

Now that Sheriff Romero was occupied with Norman, Tom Wilson was taking charge and ordering the well be covered.

Norma saw her son's large blue eyes, the same color blue as her own, were looking back and forth at all the commotion that was just for him.

Alex was carrying him to a waiting ambulance where they would take him to the hospital.

"ED!" Norma called racing after Alex. She was going to the hospital with them to make sure her son was alright. He might still die of hypothermia.

"I'm right here!" Ed called from the crowd.

"Look after Dylan and Ingrid! They're both still grounded!" Norma shouted over the ruckus of Tom Wilson giving orders and the mass of people carrying them out.

"Got it! Bread and water only." Ed said.

"No TV!" Norma shouted climbing into the waiting ambulance while Alex was laying Norman down on a stretcher and wrapping a blanket around him.

"Should I flog them and lock them in the basement?" Ed asked.  
"No, Just no TV. Tell them Norman is out. I'll call you later." Norma shouted. Unperturbed by Ed's slight teasing.

~ The paramedic in the ambulance was a chubby woman with a kind face and sweet voice.

"No." Norman groaned when she pulled apart the blanket his dad had wrapped in him for warmth. He saw the needle she wanted to poke him with and didn't want her to hurt him.

"We're going to have to start pushing fluids in you, Sweetie. Give you medicine." she said kindly. She had the voice of a teacher.

"Norma was starting to feel better with the warmth of the blanket and being out of the dark and wet well, but the bright lights of the ambulance cabin and all those flashing lights were too much.

"Norman?" his mother said. "You have to let the lady put an IV in you."

"No!" Norman cried. It was all too much. The lights were too bright, there was too much noise and too much was happening.

He didn't like it. His dad was holding him, holding him too tightly and the woman with the round face and nice voice was sticking him with a needle. His mother was telling him it was okay and Norman knew it wasn't okay. He didn't want to be held, he didn't want all these lights and noises around him.

He started to scream in frustration that his dad was holding him and wouldn't let him go. He wanted to be left alone. He wanted to be dry and warm and in his room with his button and rock collections. He wanted Ingrid and Dylan down the hall bickering and he wanted his mother cooking dinner and his dad keeping them all safe. He wanted to pet his rabbits and he wanted to be anywhere but here.

Then he felt woozy and tired. His world slipping away. The lady with nice voice telling his parents he had a sedative and would sleep for a while.

"Obviously no broken bones." she said with slight disgust. "Not with all that kicking and hitting."


	138. Chapter 138

138.

~ Norma was sure that if Norman had been anyone but Sheriff Romero's son, he might have been treated with more contempt because of his autism by the hospital staff. As it was, she doubted that any child should have to suffer such looks of disgust and side whispering from the nurses. It was as though her son had committed a crime when he woke up from the sedative and screamed to go home.

The night nurse, who'd been perfectly pleasant to Norma and the revered Sheriff Romero when their son arrived from the emergency room was in shock that they allowed such behavior from a boy his age.

It was true, when Norman was upset or very scared he would throw tantrums that would shame any three year old. The ER doctor pronounced the boy had no broken bones or concussion and wanted to keep him overnight for observation. Yet, when Norman awoke in a strange place after his frightening experience in the well, he started screaming.

"Now, you're going to behave yourself, or you're going to get a shot, Norman!" the night nurse scolded when the child pushed Alex and his mother away from his hospital bed. His screaming carrying on so loudly that someone would think he was being tortured.

"No!" Norma told the nurse. "He'll calm down, just give him time."

"You know, you shouldn't spoil a child like that." the nurse told Norma with an annoyed smugness.

It wasn't her child who was acting out and causing problems so she was the victim and the expert by default.

"He just need some discipline." she added curtly.

"Thank you." Alex snarled while Norma tried to control her son's falling arms and sooth his cries.

"Mother!" Norman hollered even though she was right in front of him.

"A good spanking is what he needs." the nurse added hatefully.

"You can leave now." Alex told her harshly.

"Mother! Mother! Dad! I wanna go home! Take me home now! Now! NOW!" Norman shouted so hard that his face turned red and his eyes bugged out.

"Norman." his mother said calmly while Alex escorted the night nurse out of the room. "Norman, you're safe and in the hospital. Your dad and I are here with you."

"I wanna go home!" Norman shouted.

"We will take you home…" Norma said sternly. "When the doctor says you can go home."

"No!" Norman cried. "Now! I don't want to be here! I want Ingrid and Dylan! I want to be in my room!"

"Honey, do you remember what happened?" Norma asked to divert her son's attention away from his irate demands.

Norman looked lost and angry as he tried to remember. His words coming slowly as they always did when he was scared or upset.

"We… we were exploring… the old house. And … and I walked away from Dylan and Ingrid The ground broke. I fell down into this… hole. It had water and bones in it." Norman said carefully. His tone pitching at odd places as though he was asking a question.

"Then what happened?" Norma asked him. She stayed focused on her son but felt Alex step closer to her side.

"Dad… dad came and he… he pulled me off the wall." Norman said. "I was scared and I… and I didn't want to leave… He… he made me leave… I didn't like it."

"Okay. So you know why we had to take you to the hospital." she said soothingly. "Because you feel down a well and we have to make sure you're okay."

Norman moaned in agony and clutched his hands together till his fingers went white.

"Norman." Alex said. "You said you saw bones in the well?"

"Yes." Norman said indifferently. "They were there and they sank back down again."

Norma glance up at her husband in alarm.  
"Maybe an animal fell in." he whispered.

"No." Norman said brightly but with the same indifference he always used. "I thought it was a turtle at first in the water, but it was a skull. It was a person's skull."

~ Norman finally calmed down enough to try and sleep again. The night nurse was forbidden to come near him and Norma noticed the other nursing staff was giving her and Alex curious looks. It wasn't that Norman had fallen down the well. That would have earned them sympathetic looks and reassurance that Norman would be alright and no one was to blame.

No, these were the looks people always gave her when they realized she was Norman's mother. When they saw the downside to the sweet boy who wouldn't hurt a fly.

Norman hardly ever flew into rages like that. Only when he was scared or felt he was being forced into doing something against his will. Normally, he was a very easy going child but there were times when he couldn't take the pressure of whatever situation he was in and he didn't know how to handle it.

It was why he couldn't be in the classroom with the other kids and it was why people looked at Norma Romero like she was a bad mother who let her son walk all over her. They didn't understand that Norman couldn't help what he was doing. They had the luxury of being mediocre parents to typical kids when she had to be a perfect mother all the time.

Her hand wandered over the slight rise in her belly when she thought about Norman and what kind of future he might have. She and Alex never talked about their future plans for Norman the way they did for Ingrid and Dylan.

They readily made plans for the college education of the older kids. But Norman, since they knew the full meaning of his autism, they had only made plans for the immediate future. It was almost as if they planned to keep him at home well into his forties and beyond. Always keeping him sheltered from the outside world.

Norma's thoughts ran over the idea that the new baby might have Norman's same condition and what that would mean for them. Norman was gentle and kind in nature, but what if this baby had her own disabilities?

"He's asleep." Alex whispered when he joined her in the stillness of the small waiting room.

Norma nodded.  
"You should go home to. Try and get some rest. They have him on antibiotics and he's going to be fine. Might release him in the morning." Alex told her hopefully.

"Im not leaving him." Norma spat. She was exhausted and her feet hurt, but she didn't want to think about her son waking up alone in that hospital room again.

She let out a long sigh and wished she'd never allowed the kids to go out and play that day. Of all the things to have happened, why did Norman have to fall in a well?

"At least put your feet up." Alex instructed and guided her back down to the seating area. "They're already swollen."

Norma nodded and sat back down, her husband immediately pulling her feet onto his lap, stripping off her shoes and rubbing them.

"Alex, I didn't even know there was a well out there." she complained. "Or a house."

"I didn't either." Alex admitted.  
"Dylan and Ingrid said it belonged to your family before they built the big house." Norma told him.  
"No, they didn't." Alex shook his head. "My family built our house to live in together right before the first world war. After they bought the farmland, they started construction on it right away. They never lived on it before. The house the kids found is buried in the woods, Norma. I never saw it before."

Norma couldn't quite understand what he was saying.

"Who did it belong to then?" she asked.

Alex shrugged.

"Whoever owned the land before my family bought it." he explained. "When Norman is home I'll have to investigate the well."

"Thought Tom was sealing it up." Norma whispered. She never wanted to see that well again.

"Norman said there were bones in it. We have to investigate." Alex told her.

"You're going to have someone go down there again?" Norma whispered. Her heart ached at the recent memory of Alex being lowered down into that well to get her son and then rejoiced when he emerged to the surface world with him in his arms.

She finally had a front row seat to Alex Romero's heroic acts and there was sure to be featured in the front page of the newspaper tomorrow.

"I'll go down there. Tom will help." he told her.  
"Alex!" she hissed.

"It's my property and my well and I need to investigate it foul play has been involved in someone's death." he argued.

"I don't want you going down there." she argued.

"I won't be long." he said lazily. "Hopefully Norman just imagined bones."

"Hopefully." Norma agreed.

"By the way, I told Norman about Lilly." he nodded to the rise in her stomach and looked a tad guilty.

Norma grinned a little.

"It was the only way to get him to come to me. If I gave him a secret no one else would know." Alex explained.

"What did he say?" Norma asked curious to how her delicate son would react to the news of a baby sister.

"He called her a garden baby." Alex admitted. "Asked if she'll be a kitten or something."

Norma surpassed a giggle and had to admit that such a thing was just what her son would say.

"What are we going to do about Ingrid and Dylan?" Alex asked. "They didn't mean for this to happen."

"I know but they still have to be punished." Norma sighed. "Gives us an excuse to make them do all the crap work around the house."

Alex nodded and kept rubbing her feet.

"We got lucky today, Mrs. Romero." he admitted.

"Yes, we did, Sheriff." she whispered.

~ Alex wasn't used to being in a house that was so quite. It almost feel the same as it did before he married Norma and the renovations began. A lonely house thick with angry ghosts.

Dylan and Ingrid were still staying with Ed and Chelsea and now that Norman was home, all he wanted to do was sleep. The experience of falling in the well seeming to draw all the strength out of him. As soon as he was home and his mother put him into bed with her, he fell instantly asleep.

Graceland and Rocky, sensing their young master needed their protection, huddled with Norma and the little boy in the larger bed together. A collection of warm bodies no doubt making Norman finally feel safe.

For Alex though, it was boring being home with nothing to do. Tom had gleefully agreed to fill in for Alex as Sheriff until Romero had his family settled again. It was amazing how quickly he had been forced into mandatory time off after his son had fallen down a well.

Oddly enough, after all this time, people still called Norman his step-son. Even the people he saw everyday, and who should have respected the fact he'd adopted the kids, called them Romero's step-children.

Alex never really noticed it until he'd made a run to the grocery store while Norma was asleep with their youngest and the two dogs in bed with her.

He quickly stocked up on provisions for meals and even got some ice cream for Norman to indulge in. It wasn't until he was in the check out line when he noticed Maggie Summers looking surprised to see him.

"Alex!" she said. Her face always sad and dismayed by her lot in life, but lately she seemed more distressed. "I heard all about what happened to your son. To Norman I mean. Not Dylan. How is he? Norma is in here with him all the time and he's so polite. Always gives me a little wave."

Alex felt take aback at Maggie calling Norman his son. So few in town did. Some people in town still called his wife "That Bates Woman".

"Oh." Alex stuttered. "He… he's fine. Thank you, Maggie. He's home now with his mother."

"It was just awful. He must have been so scared. Poor thing." Maggie shook her head as she rang up his items. "I remember when we were kids and I fell down that side of the cliff. You remember? We were playing by the Big Horn. You and Jimmy Brennan ran to get help. Then your dad came and he climbed down the side of that cliff. Then, he just yanked me back up. My dad gave me such a beating for it when I got home but your dad was so nice to me. He just told me I was going to be fine and pulled me off the cliff like he did it everyday."

Alex blinked. He'd forgotten all about that. He and Maggie had been great friends when they were about eleven or so. They ran with a pack of miscreants including Jimmy Brennan and Bob Paris. Always getting into trouble all summer long. He'd forgotten Maggie had fallen off a slight rise and almost fallen to her death one summer. The young girl clinging to the side till help arrived in the form of the Old Bear.

Alex and the other delinquents had watched as the former Sheriff Romero had repelled down the side of the cliff with nothing but the winch off his truck to keep the rope steady.

He could have easily fallen to his death and taken Maggie with him. But the Old Bear had pulled the girl back up given her a gentle lecture about watching where the hell she was going, and told Alex he was probably responsible for what happened.

How could he have forgotten that? How could he have forgotten the Old Bear saving Maggie Summers? He hadn't made the papers and she wasn't even taken to the hospital after.

"Tell Norma I asked about you son." Maggie said humbly. "It had me so worried. I had nightmares about it."

"Don't worry, Maggie." Alex said softly. It was more to comfort her now than anything else. "Norman doesn't remember much. His mother has his spoiled right now."

"Yeah. He's lucky to have a mother like that." Maggie nodded. She looked at Alex with new shock. "I hear you and Norma are going to have a new baby." she said brightly.

"Yeah." Alex said uncomfortably. Talking with Maggie felt strange somehow. As if he'd betrayed her and the friendship they had once shared as kids.

"Norma is in here all the time. I noticed she was getting a little bigger. Women like her don't get fat." Maggie reminded him.

Now Alex really did feel uncomfortable.

"I should go. I'll tell Norma you asked about her." Alex nodded and grabbed his few grocery bags. The feeling of guilt was hanging between them. Guilt that he should have been a better friend to her.


	139. Chapter 139

139.

~ Alex had been worried that Norman would become especially spoiled and clingy after what happened in the well. When he first met the boy as a toddler, Norma was especially protective of him. Even to the point of allowing him to sleep with her. A thing Alex had to put a stop to when their relationship became more intimate and there was no room for a child in their bedroom.

In a way, he was envious of Norma's relationship with her son. He would have enjoyed being fawned over like that as a child. To always have clean clothes and a hot dinner. For his mother to be present and happy and for his father to be strict, but kind.

It never bothered Alex that Norma didn't make such a fuss over Dylan. Her oldest seemed more independent and less fragile than young Norman. Alex thought it was for the best that Dylan not be coddled too much. It wouldn't help him as an adult if he couldn't break away from his mother's apron strings.

When they found out about Norman's autism and what it would mean for him, a lot of things made sense and became easier. There was nothing really wrong with Norman, he just needed structure and for things to remain stable. As long as he felt safe in his home and family, he was fine.

Norman took meticulous care of the few farm animals they had. He kept his room clean, did his homework and had little interest in making friends. All things that seemed to suit the Romero family just fine. Dylan and Ingrid didn't mind spending time with him and if he was picked on in school, he never told anyone.

When Norma and Alex were able to bring the boy home, there was just one night when Norma insisted he sleep with her in their bed. After that, Norman elected to stay in his own room and wanted to know when Dylan and Ingrid would be home. He missed them and it was abnormal for them to be absent.

Alex was pleased that his youngest son didn't want to be babied other that with good food and some new toys.

For Norma though, it was like she needed to treat her son with special care. She constantly made sure he was alright and didn't want to leave him alone. Even to the point of bribing him to spend time with her.

She couldn't shake the fact they had nearly lost him. That he had so randomly fallen into a disused well and came up again with next to no injuries was astounding.

~ "Are we going to see the baby?" Norman asked with a tone of boredom in his voice.

"Yes." his mother nodded and smiled.

Alex shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He never liked doctor's offices and Doctor Bloch's office hadn't changed at all since he was Norman's age. He'd once sat in this very exam room with his mother and that memory wasn't at all pleasant. She'd been deep in her own well of depression and nothing could draw her out.

"When?" Norman demanded. He liked the doctor's office as much as Alex did, and was sure this sonogram outing was an elaborate ruse of some kind for a check up and shots.

"Soon." his mother sighed.

"You know, Dylan and Ingrid don't get to see the baby. They don't know yet if it's a boy or a girl." Alex reminded him. He knew Norman was delighted by the fact he knew something about the new baby his siblings didn't. He was also going to see the first pictures of her which was something Dylan and Ingrid weren't invited to.

"We think the baby is girl." Norma prompted happily. "The pictures will show us for sure."

"How do you know if the baby is a boy or a girl?" Norman asked curiously. His face scrunching up comically.

Norma giggled and her cheeks with slightly pink.  
"Well, what do boys have that girls don't have?" she teased her youngest son.

Norman seemed to think about it.

"Oh." he said at last and Alex had to bite his lip to keep from smiling.

~ Doctor Bloch hadn't changed much since Alex was younger. He'd always been a soothing presence to expectant mothers and children. His tone calm and reassuring. Still, he'd known all this time about Alex being taken from his birth mother. Doctor Bloch and Sybil had both collaborated on the lifelong deception that was Alex Romero's life.

"Anything feeling off or strange?" the doctor asked conversationally.  
"Just extra weight gain." Norma said with a tinge of complaint. "Never gained this much with the boys."  
"Well, keep in mind you're in a colder climate and it's almost winter. It's normal to gain weight in the winter. I don't want you to try and diet, Mrs. Romero. You're at a healthy weight, even if you don't like it." Doctor Bloch told her.

"Easy for you to say." Norma grumbled and smoothed her hands over her stomach.

Bloch nodded and quickly started the ultra sound. Norman looking eagerly at the screen as if expecting a cartoon to come one. He was a little disappointed to see black and white images jump on the screen but Alex found it remarkable when he could clearly see a large, bulbous head. He knew Norma was pregnant and that there was a baby coming, but it finally started to seem real now.

"Everything…" Bloch said slowly "Looks good. Big baby, Mrs. Romero."

"Well, he's a big guy." Norma sighed and nodded to Alex. She looked slightly horrified then when Bloch glanced at the both of them.

"I mean, big and… tallish." she fumbled in embarrassment.

Alex gave her a slight grin and Norman ignored them both.

"Is that it?" the child asked.

"That is the baby." Bloch said and pointed to the spine, arms and head. "Do you want to know the gender?" he asked kindly.

Norma nodded eagerly.

"We think it's a girl." she told him.

"Yes, Chelsea Warren did her very scientific test." Alex said lazily.

"Well… it appears Miss Warren is right abut this one. Looks like you'll have a little girl in early April." Bloch told them.

Norma beamed and gave her husband an 'I-told-you-so' look.

"We're going to call her Lilly." Norman said helpfully. "She's a garden baby."

"That she is." Bloch said quickly and began printing out pictures from the machine. "Lilly Romero is a fine name."

The heavy set doctor turned his attention on Norman next.

"Now, I read in the paper how you fell down a well? Did you want to talk about that?" he asked.

"No." Norman said.

"I would be upset if I'd fallen down a well. It's scary. A lot of adults wouldn't have been as brave as you." Bloch told him.

"I don't want to go back down the well." Norman said and looked away from the doctor's gaze. He started his thousand yard stare which meant he wanted to distance himself from the conversation.

"He's fine, Doctor." Alex jumped in. If Norman didn't want to talk about the well, he wasn't going to make him.

"Well, if there are nightmares or any problems, you know to call us." Bloch added and wrote a perception. "Thats a light dose of anxiety medication for kids-"

"We don't need that." Alex snapped. "Norman is fine. He's been taking care of his rabbits and he's back to himself."

"My bunnies are in the barn. We're going to move them to the greenhouse soon so they'll be warmer." Norman added helpfully.

"Sheriff, your son fell down a well. That could have serious psychological problems for him for years now." Bloch told him.

The child looked to Alex for help.  
"I want to go home." he whimpered.

~ After they stopped for ice cream, another of Norma's demands for spoiling Norman, they went home. It was strange to drive past the nearly invisible path that lead to the hidden house no one knew was even there.

"What happened to the well?" Norman asked from the backseat.

"Tom covered it up. It's safe now." Alex told him.  
"Can we go see the house again? Dylan wanted to make it our house to play in." Norman told his parents.

"NO!" Norma said sternly. "As soon as Tom is done with his investigation, we're hiring some people to tear the whole thing down. It's not safe."

~ It had been a bitter pill for Alex to swallow. Being excluded from the investigation into the well. He was still on mandatory family leave and Tom thought it was best to keep Alex out of it. All the Romero's knew was what Tom told them so far, which was very little.

"It was a human skull." Alex sighed once Norman was safely outside with his rabbits. Whenever the little boy was nervous or upset, he wanted to take care of his rabbits.

"How long was it down there?" Norma hissed. "I can't believe we didn't know that house was there."

"Norma, this farm is surrounded by forests and the house was covered in moss. It blended in. I know I didn't spend much time here if I could help it. I was always at friend's houses. I wasn't exploring my own backyard. Tom and White took forever finding it again even with the police tape." Alex explained.

Norma shook her head.

"We don't have any idea who's house it was?"

"Hall of records burned down in the 60's." Alex shrugged. "They didn't have a back up. I haven't been able to find the original deed to the land. We only have the name Jones on the official records and that could have been anyone."

"I can't believe Tom won't let you investigate." Norma huffed. "You're the Sheriff!"

"I'm on mandatory family leave." Alex reminded her gently. "At least for another week. Apparently they think my kid falling down a well means I need to stay at home and comfort him."

"They don't know Norman." she nodded and they both spied their younger son taking his rabbits out of the hutch so they could enjoy the fresh air and grass before it got too cold.

"Yeah, they don't know my wife puts me to work around the house whenever she sees me not doing anything." Alex said lazily.

"That reminds me." Norma whispered. "I need you to do that thing you do take the washer stop making that noise. Dylan and Ingrid are coming home tomorrow and I know they'll have a lot of laundry.

He was about to say something when a strange car pulled into the long, tree lined driveway and drove slowly up to the house.

"Who is that?" Norma asked wrinkling her nose in a way that reminded Alex of Ingrid when she was disgusted at something.

"I don't know." Alex admitted. They watched the strange car pull to a stop and a small, white haired woman dressed in yellow step out. She looked around the house and property as if she meant to buy it, before stepping onto the front porch.  
"Who is that?" Norma hissed. Alex didn't wait for the stranger to ring the bell, but opened the door to find the woman with her short white hair smiling at them.

"Oh! You must be Sheriff Romero." she beamed. "I'm Lynette Roe. I'm the new director of family services for White Pine Bay. I don't think we had a chance to meet. I was hired just last week."

"I heard." Alex said indifferently. He wasn't the friendliest person around strangers and he couldn't help his guard going up.  
"Well, may I came in?" she asked while Norma eyed their intruder suspiciously.

"What's this about Miss. Roe?" Alex demanded. His instincts tell him this wasn't a social call.

"Well, Sheriff, Mrs. Romero. I'd like to talk to you inside because you're both being investigated for child neglect." Lynette said seriously.  
"What?" Norma breathed. Her hands clutching he stomach protectively.

"Yes, in relation to your son Norman falling down a disused well. Apparently neither of you were looking after the three children when the incident happened." Lynette reminded them. "May I come in?"

 **Sorry it took so long to update. Been lazy AF and doing other projects.**


	140. Chapter 140

**Guys! I know it's been FOREVER and a day since I last updated. I'm trying to re-read everything but this is a LONG story!**

 **Anyway, I'm sorry I was so busy with other writing projects and will be coming back to this one now. I know you miss this story and this story has never left my mind. It's been 7 months since I last updated.**

 **I'd love to hear feedback, suggestions and requests.**

 **I've actually gotten a request to have Norma and Alex sneaking around. A good one shot story but for now, I'm going to work on this.**

140.

~ Alex's eyes fell on Norma and her already protruding stomach. The stress of Norman falling down the well, the investigation and now this sudden visitor couldn't be good for her and the baby.

"My wife is pregnant." he said feebly stepping in front of Norma.

"Alex." she sighed when their intruder didn't seem too impressed.

"I wasn't made aware that this was a high risk pregnancy." Lynette said waspishly. "If you like I can speak to you alone, Sheriff."

"Please, come in and sit down." Norma said moving Alex aside and allowing their guest entrance.

"It'll be fine." Norma told Alex who felt himself ready to argue. He could see this whole thing sending her into some sort of horrible premature labor. Since she had started showing, the pregnancy had become much more real to him.

They had been so lucky for so long. Maybe their luck was running out.

~ "So there are three children in the household; and one on the way?" Lynette Roe asked jabbing a pen in Norma's direction.

The adults were seated in the living room. Alex and Norma on the couch with Lynette, their new enemy, in a rarely used wingback.

"Yes." Alex said when Norma started to speak. It was difficult to read his wife sometimes, her personality was always unpredictable, but this social worker was bound to invoke a certain amount of hostility. Anyone who questioned her competency as a parent would live to regret it.

Lynette Roe wasn't at all like Sybil Lawson had been. She seemed like the type to no give any support of understanding. Alex sensed that Lynette Roe was the type of woman who would smile to your face, find all out all she could on you, discover your weaknesses and use them against you.

Lynette gave a terse smile and wrote this information down in her notes.

"Dylan is… ten years old, Ingrid is nine and Norman is… eight?" she asked.

"Right." Alex said. He kept his answers very short and shook his head at Norma when she gave him a dirty look.

"They are all enrolled in school? Haven't missed any days?" Lynette asked.

"You can confirm that with the school. I'm sure they take attendance." Alex said.

 _'_ _Don't volunteer information. Don't give them anything._ ' he thought back to his training.

"I suppose I can interview the teachers as well about their grades." Lynette said more to herself than to the parents.

Alex didn't answer.

"They all do very well. Ingrid is even in the gifted program." Norma said plainly.

"Where were you, Mrs. Romero, when Norman fell down the well?" Lynette asked now that Norma had taken the bait.

Norma sat up a little straiter.

"I was here. At home." she said.

"And are you at home a lot?" Lynette asked.

"Yes. I'm a full time stay at home mother with the baby on the way." she explained running a hand over the rise on her belly.

"What were the children doing in the woods that day?" Lynette asked.

"Playing." Norma told her.

"You allow them to play in the woods unsupervised?"

Norma looked at Alex. It had always been their practice to allow the children to venture wherever they wanted on the property so long as they were home for meals. It was the custom of how Alex had grown up, his father and Simon as well.

"Yes." she said at last.

"You know that it could be dangerous in these woods. I was looking at the fence enclosing the farm and it needs repairing. Any number of animal could get in. Wild dogs, bears." Lynette said.

"Bears." Alex laughed. "No one had seen a bear in years here. They only come out during floods."

Norma looked upset.

"You let young children play all day in dangerous wooded areas without supervision and your son fell down a disused well you say you didn't even know was on your property." Lynette told them.

Norma sat up straiter.

"My family has owned this property for generations." Alex said calmly and ran a hand over Norma's to keep her still. "I never knew it was there and it wasn't on the zoning maps. These woods? I'm sure there are lots of buildings that were never registered with the city."

"Exactly my point." Lynette Roe said. "Your son Norman." she said opening a new file.

"What about him?" Alex asked.

"The nursing staff at the hospital were concerned. He'd been very difficult to handle. Screamed a lot and even became violent?" Lynette told them.

Alex and Norma exchanged looks.

"He'd been through a serious trauma." Norma said.

He's lived through a few of those since you came into the picture." Lynette nodded to Alex."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, Sheriff, you shot and killed his biological father when he was only two." Lynette said.

"After I started divorce proceedings. We'd been separated for months. Sam broke into our house and was hurting me. I'm sure you can check the hospital records. I had a broken arm. He was trying to kill me." Norma said with a shaky voice. The memory of that awful night and the fragile young woman she'd once been was always a difficult thing to think about.

"You married the man who killed your husband?" Lynette asked as if it were an interesting Shakespearian plot point.

Norma looked offended but said nothing.

"We didn't get married right away." Alex said calmly.

"Norman has autism?" Lynette asked. "Yet he's not in a remedial classroom?"

"No, he is not." Norma snapped.

"Autism requires special attention, Mrs. Romero." Lynette pointed out as if she were telling them one and one makes two.

"We know that. Norman is actually in the accelerated classes. It's a smaller group for geniuses. He works closely with older children and does private study. He's reading at a high level and he's very happy." Norma said.

"Norman is reading at two grade levels higher than the other kids his age. He's autistic, but with savant syndrome." Alex explained cooly. "He's highly capable of maintaining a normal life."

"When he's being monitored properly and not falling down wells." Lynette added.

Alex held fast to Norma's hand.

"About Dylan, how is he doing in school?" Lynette asked.

"He could do better. He's very smart, but he doesn't think he is." Alex told her.

"I see from his records he always pulls a passing grade. A sharp contrast to his sister. She's certainly exceptional. Why wasn't she enrolled at the academy here? Much better training for a gifted academic." Lynette told him.

"We talked about that when we first adopted her. We wanted her to have a normal childhood." Alex said.

"She can't have a normal childhood, Sheriff." Lynette huffed. "She found a dead baby in the bay last year. Did you start therapy for that?"

Alex and Norma didn't answer.  
"I didn't think so." Lynette scribbled something down in her notebook. "I'll need to see the rooms where the kids sleep. Make sure the living space is safe and clean.

Norma looked nervously at Alex.

Norman was in his room and he was dead set against people coming in there. Most of the time, it wasn't a problem because he kept it neatly organized. This woman, however, didn't seem to respect anyones boundaries.

~ Norman could hear a strange woman was downstairs with Mother and Dad. The old pipes were excellent conductors of sound and they carried muffled voices up to him if he listened in the bathtub like Ingrid and Dylan had taught him to.

He'd heard this woman accuse his dad of shooting and killing his biological father. He wasn't shocked about that. He'd heard that all the time at school. He'd heard her say their might be bears in the woods. His mother had seen a real bear after all the flooding their first year there in the little house.

Norman didn't like the woman at all. Now, she wanted to come upstairs to the bedrooms and see them? The adults don't come upstairs. Not really. As long as Ingrid, Dylan and Norman were quite and kept their rooms clean, they had no reason to. The upstairs was a safe haven for the kids because downstairs was where the adults lived.

Mother knew not to go into Norman's room. Dad knew to. They both knew that it was wrong to be inside his room. Ingrid didn't mind them being in her room. She didn't like it and preferred they stay out of her space, Dylan felt the same way, but **no one** went into Norman's room.

His room was where he kept his stuffed animals on the bookcase that Chick built him. The large glass jars of found arrow heads and sea shells when they went to the bay as a family. Where Norman kept all his clothes neatly organized and folded. Where Mother washed his clothing with soap that didn't smell like soap because she knew the smell of soap bothered him.

It was where that awful red fire engine sat on his desk and why he hated to look at his desk now.

Norman hopped out of the bathtub and hurried across the hall to his bedroom. If he got there in time, if he staked out his room as a place this woman wasn't welcomed, then she would leave.

He was immediately reassured by the way his room looked. His bed neatly made, his stuffed animals categorized and seated as if they were watching a play. All his books organized and free of dust. His old pickle jars that dad had given him when Chick cleaned out the barn were filled with treasures he'd found.

No, Norman had strategically decorated his room to keep visitors out. All his possessions were powerful items of protection. They would keep him safe through magic. He believed these things would work and he felt panic rise up into a painful stomach cramp when the old woman could be heard on the stairs.

~ Lynette only peeked into Ingrid and Dylan's room.

"Our oldest children are staying with our friend." Norma explained worriedly eyeing Norman's door.

"Pastor Warren. I'll be going by there later on." Lynette said.

"Good." Alex said irritably. Norma threw him a look but he still seemed annoyed.

Lynette peeked into Dylan's room made a note and checked the bathroom.

"We did an extensive remodel before we moved in." Norma explained eagerly.

The social worker didn't seem impressed with the bathroom or the great care Norma had taken in the large clawfoot tub that was original to the farm house.

"Oh, you must be Norman." the social worker said when she spotted the small boy standing in the center of his bedroom.

Of the entire house, Norman's was by far the most claustrophobic in his mother's mind.

He liked the old furniture Chick had discover in the barn and wasn't above taking things he wanted for his own room. Norma spotted some silk flowers on his desk that blocked the fire truck and she was sure they belonged to Ingrid.

Norman said nothing and only glared at the woman.

"My name is Lynette Roe." she said crossing over into his room and surveying everything there.

Norman's eyes widened in alarm. People just didn't go into his room uninvited.

"Wow! You have a lot of… interesting toys." Lynette said picking up one of Norman's stuffed animals.

"No." Norman said.

"Norman." Lynette said putting back the stuffed owl in the wrong place. Norman always kept his stuffed owl on a high shelf all alone. No one was sure why.

"Norman, I want to talk about the day you fell in the well. It must have been very scary. I want to know what were you doing playing in the woods" Lynette demanded.

"Put that back." Norman ordered. His eyes on the owl that she put in the wrong place.

"Norman, I know it's hard but I need you to remember." Lynette said.

Norma shook her head. Norman didn't have a memory problem. He had a problem with this woman touching his things. His face was turning red and Lynette wasn't being careful about her sons things.

"Now, Norman, you don't have a choice. You have to tell me these things. It's the law." Lynette said accusingly.

"NO!" Norman suddenly shouted and to Norma's muted horror she watched Lynette bump into the bookshelf and one of Norman's prized jars filled with sea glass and shells came crashing to the floor.

It had been a large jar. One of the ones Alex had found for him to use and was at least fifty years old. Norman had loved it because Simon had saved these jars in case they were needed again. Alex telling Norman that he'd obviously saved them for just him to use.

It made a horrific crash from falling at such a hight. It spilled a myriad of sea glass, sand, glass from the jar and shells all over the floor.

The scream that erupted from Norman seemed to make the entire house vibrate with the rage he felt.

~ It took a long time for Norman to calm down. For him to stop screaming and for Lynette Roe to stop telling him to stop screaming.

Norma was never sure how he did it, but Alex had seen Lynette Roe out the door and told her not to come back. He'd phoned Ed Warren to tell him about the incident. Ed had seemed likewise horrified that Norman had been mistreated.

"Well, she said something about coming to see Dylan and Ingrid." Alex sighed glancing at the master bedroom. Norman had only stopped crying when he'd carried him into their bed and Norma talked to him in private.

"Perfect." Ed huffed. "We'll sick Ingrid on her. She'll psychologically torment her."

Alex had agreed and said he would pick them up later. He spent a good hour cleaning up the chaotic mess of sand, glass and shells in Norman's bedroom.

The jar could be replaced. Simon had saved literally dozens of them back when pickles came in heavy glass jars. It also seemed Norman's collection wasn't terribly harmed. Yet, it wasn't the destruction of the jar or the mess. Norman had felt intimately violated. Lynette hadn't meant to. Hell, Alex's father had done much worse that this, but Norman was always different. Always much more sensitive.

From the first time Alex had ever met him, Norman was different from other children. He needed more attention. Needed more stability and reassurance.

This entire ordeal was proving too much. The family had been making so much progress in the last few years.

Alex checked on Norma and their youngest son. The little boy was sleeping peacefully in their bed after having cried himself out.

"I was going to go pick up Ingrid and Dylan." Alex whispered when he spotted his wife was still awake. She looked worried. Her face pulling into lines he hadn't seen since she first moved to White Pine Bay.

"Is he okay?" Alex nodded to the sleeping cuddle of little boy curled next to her.

Norma nodded.

"He was so upset. Alex, I've never seen him cry like that before." she whispered.

"Well, it's over now." he said. "I'll be home soon. We can put Norman back into his own bed. I cleaned everything up."

"I was thinking he could sleep here tonight. Just till he feels safe." Norma whispered hopefully.

Alex looked at her with a start. Norman hadn't wanted to sleep in the same bed as his mother in years now. He'd grown much more independent and Alex didn't want to take a step back.

He nodded to his wife who was running a hand over the rise in her belly.  
"We already have a baby in the bed with us." he whispered.

Norma looked at him hurtfully and Alex promised to be home soon.


	141. Chapter 141

141.

~ Ingrid wasn't one to believe in ghosts. Her home was chalked full of family sprits who could certainly haunt the old farm house. People she'd never met had lived in the house and died in the house. By the rules of all the paranormal books she read, her house should be perfectly haunted.

Yet, it wasn't. If there were ghosts in her home, they spelt deeply or were ignored all together. Her mother had no time for ghosts. Not with three children to look after and another on the way. Long ago, Ingrid's parents had chased away all the bad memories from the farm house. They'd had Chick tear down walls and rebuild them back up again. What was created was a new place; one with hardly any memories at all.

The Warren House on Grand Street was different. It was arrestingly beautiful inside and out and looked as though Victorian children should be playing on the expansive lawn.

When Ed brought her and Dylan here after Norman's accident, Ingrid felt a distinct ripple in her stomach at the idea that she was in a house that was most certainly haunted.

The house wasn't suitable for a family to live in. Not a modern family. Maybe that was why Ed's had left him. Renee having taken his three children back to New York for a trial separation. All along the walls, there were no pictures of his children or of himself and his beautiful wife. Not even of himself with his sister Chelsea. It was as if the house was forever frozen in time. All of its' photographs trapped in black and white and seemingly when the house was first built.

It wasn't just the decor that alarmed Ingrid, but the fact that Ed and Chelsea were perfectly comfortable living this way. Most people weren't comfortable living in a museum for a home. Ingrid had gone to see homes from the Victorian era that had been staged and roped off for tours. Her school groups looked at the peacock feathers and dried flowers under huge glass domes exactly like Ed had in his living room. The house there was only meant to show a glimpse of life back then. The Warrens seemed to really live it.

"They don't even have a TV." Dylan whispered looking over at Ingrid from his twin sized bed.

Ingrid nodded. They had been put up in the guest room. A place that was heavy with antique furnishings and stale air. Everything in this house was decades older than she was and it made her feel uneasy rather than grounded.

"It's only for a few days." she whispered back.

"Think Norman's okay?" Dylan whispered. "I mean, I took my eyes off him for a second. Think he's going to be okay?"

"Pastor Warren said he was fine." Ingrid said feeling a creeping sense of anxiety rush over her. She hadn't felt this way in a very long time. She missed her violin. She missed hiding out in the barns' loft where she had he best view.

She missed the sounds of their dad's heavy footsteps around the house that told her he was doing one last check of the locks before going to bed. That had always made her feel safest of all and she doubted she could sleep without knowing her dad was downstairs checking the doors against intruders. Without Graceland and Rocky ready to bark at a strange noise. Ingrid had never really been afraid since she'd come to live with Sheriff Romero and her sister Norma as her parents. Glenn Hews would have to be suicidal to attack Sheriff Romero's home and family.

Ingrid gripped her blanket tighter. She wasn't at home now. She wasn't safe. Sheriff Romero wasn't downstairs ready to shoot anyone on sight. The dogs weren't downstairs. No, here… here in this depressing tomb that only ghosts could live in…. if she died here… what would happen to her? Would she be condemned to this place forever? To be apart of the Warren Museum?

"Mom will be so pissed. I didn't mean for it to happen. She's going to blame me." Dylan went on interrupting her thoughts.  
"She's going to blame both of us." Ingrid told him harshly. "We weren't looking out for Norman, and that's our one job."

"Well, I mean, How were we supposed to know there was a well there? It could have happened to any of us." Dylan said.

Ingrid gripped her covers tighter. They didn't smell like the sheets back home. They smelled musty. Creepy.

"I mean… what if it was just me and Norman out there? What if I'd fallen in the well and he panicked and didn't know what to do? Didn't know to go get help? Just hid or something?" Dylan went on. "I would have died."

His last words sounded self pitying and demanded Ingrid feel sorry for him. Ingrid was Sheriff Romero's daughter though. She didn't take pity on people that easily.

"It wasn't you." she said with her cool logic. "It was Norman. He was the one who fell down there and will be traumatized because of it."

Dylan was quite for a while.

"Ingrid?" he said at last. His voice softer and more secretive.

"Yeah?" she whispered back.

"Did you see the way Pastor Warren was holding onto mom? The way he was looking at her?" Dylan asked.

Ingrid didn't want to think about that. Their mother had been so upset she would have clung to anyone and Pastor Warren happened to be there. His arms bracing her up as though he were her husband and not their dad. Their dad was down the well rescuing Norman.

Ingrid had seen it. Saw how Pastor Warrens' eyes moved over to the rise in their mother's belly. The baby showing now and it was clear he looked at behaved differently towards her than he did before.

Maybe she should read on the psychology of men around pregnant women. Maybe men were just naturally protective of pregnant women. Even women who weren't their wives and who's baby wasn't theirs.

"Ing?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah?"

"Did you see them?"

"Yeah."

"I'm worried. I don't like the way he hugged mom like that. She only hugs dad like that." Dylan said.

"They're… it's a stressful situation. You hug me and I din't even like you." she said with a shaky voice. Her gaze was trained to the cracks in the ceiling. The air was thick with something. She could almost feel eyes on her. Eyes that had long been dead.

"I only hug you when mom or dad make me. Like that time I hit you with a baseball. They were hugging and she put her head on his chest and shoulder like she does with dad. What if she leaves dad and Pastor Warren becomes our new dad?" Dylan whispered.

"She won't." Ingrid said dismissively.

"How do you know? Pastor Warren likes her. What if she marries him?"

"That's not how it works." she hissed. "Women don't go with a guy just because HE likes HER. She has to like him back. Mom loves dad and dad loves mom and she's not going to leave him for anyone. They're having a baby together, they never fight about anything serious and they're always kissing. Dad's always putting his hands all over mom's butt when he thinks we're not looking."

"Yeah." Dylan agreed reluctantly. "When do you think we'll go home?"

"Tomorrow maybe." she said.

"I don't like it here."

"I don't either."

"Ing?"

"What?"

"Tell me a story. One you made up."

"Once upon a time, there was this little boy who kept bothering his sister with annoying questions. So she stabbed him a bunch of times while he slept in the bed next to her. The end." she whispered.

"You're going to feel really bad in the morning if you wake up and that happened to me." Dylan said in shock.

"I'll take my chances." she told him. "Good night."

 **Sorry this chapter is so short but I wanted to post something.**


	142. Chapter 142

142.

~ Alex wasn't sure what made him leave White Pine Bay and make the long drive to Portland. He'd told Norma he was going to pick up the kids from Ed Warren's house, but reasoned if he collected them on the return trip, it wouldn't exactly be a lie.

It had been years now sine he'd visited the Old Bear in his captivity and Alex was filled with the sudden need to speak to his father again. No. Not his father. Not his father at all.

But after what happened to Norman, the social worker coming to visit and their whole home life being examined, he needed reassurance he was a good father. Better than the Old Bear had been.

~ The prison was a complex building and Alex was again reminded that he never wanted to end up here. He was thankful he had gone the way of law enforcement instead of corrections. All the shouting from the yard was too chaotic for him. Like school children only far more violent and terrible.

Sheriff Romero held up his gleaming Sheriff's badge and the loud buzzing sound of gates rolling back was heard. No one questioned him now when he coldly demanded to see his father. Only he didn't mention anything about this connection anymore. His rank as Sheriff of White Pine Bay gave him more authority now. Requesting a private meeting with prisoner number 456544, M. Romero. Reason: Questioning in connection to a possible investigation. He pressed hard on the sign in sheet and was directed to a private waiting room. Again he was warned the Marcus Romero was dangerous.

"He hasn't been causing too much trouble." the guard said when he asked if Alex wanted any coffee. "Not since he got his hip broken. But he's real manipulative. At least that's what the house shirk tells us. Tells us not to get on his good side or his bad side. Tells us if we see him talking to a group of three people or more, to break it up."

"Sounds about right." Alex nodded. "How did he break his hip?"

"Slip and fall in the rain." the guard said. "He's not a young man anymore. It happens. It's been slow to heal because of his weight."

He spotted the Old Bear right away and felt sorry for him with the guards bringing him in. He looked old. Weathered and in pain now. His hair had thinned even more and gone completely gray. Even Simon hadn't gone completely gray and had kept a full head of hair until the very end. Simon had also stayed trim and healthy where Marcus Romero had gained considerable weight over the past ten years in prison.

Alex stood up and made sure his father saw the garish looking Sheriff's badge on his belt. He didn't like the way the Old Bear limped when he walked now. His massive weight causing him pain along with his broken hip. Alex suddenly regretted the spitefulness that made him keep the information that Simon and Sybil had died. But after the way he'd talked about Norma and his soon to be marriage to her, he was angry and wanted to punish him.

"Alex." Marcus said with his soft voice that had fooled so many young woman in his prime. "It's good to see you. It's been a while."

"Yeah." Alex said feeling his voice shake a little. "Want to sit down?"

Marcus nodded and looked at his son with appreciation.  
"See you got yourself promoted." he nodded.

"Wilson took an early retirement." Alex explained.

"People accepting you as their new Sheriff? Despite your old man?" Marcus laughed.  
"We both know you're not my father." Alex said coldly.  
The Old Bear's eyes danced brightly.

"Who was Allison Clark?" Alex asked.

Marcus Romero said nothing.

"Before Sybil Lawson died, she told me Simon and Ellie had another child. A daughter they put up for adoption because of the cancer. She came back to White Pine Bay. Sixteen years later looking for her parents. Instead, she met you and mom. The two of you, along with Sybil and Doctor Bloch, talked her into giving up her child. Me. So what happened to her?" Alex asked. His voice calm and hard.

"Sybil died?" Marcus asked sounding hurt.

Alex nodded.

"Simon to." he said. "We buried him next to Ellie. Did my real mother ever try and contact you again? I know she sent me birthday cards. Sybil kept them for me."

Marcus looked remorseful.

"Your mother, was Theresa Romero, Alex." he said. "That girl, Allison? She never wanted you. Knew she couldn't keep you. Your mother was so desperate for a baby. Was so happy to finally have you."

Alex shifted in his seat. He didn't want the Old Bear to do this. To make him feel sentimental about his mother.

"Did Allison say anything about my father? About who he was?" he asked.

"Just that he was her teacher. That she went to an expensive school and it would be a scandal if anyone found out. Not even her parents knew."

"What else? Did she contact you?" Alex asked feeling desperate. The Old Bear never gave information this willingly before. "Try to meet with you again. Want to see me?"

"No. She contacted Sybil about some pictures and Sybil sent them to her. That was… a very long time ago. Before your mother died. I think you were still in boy scouts. Before you made it to eagle I'm not sure."

Alex felt the wind knocked out of him. The Old Bear hadn't toyed with the information or tried to bargain with it.

"Do you have her contact information?" he asked. "All we have is a name and-"

Marcus shook his head.

"We didn't want to contact her." he explained.

"She was your sister." Alex said. "Simon's daughter."

"Simon had given her up. She had parents who treated her well. Were sending her to a good school." Marcus reasoned. "She had a life back where she came from, Alex. She went back to it."

Alex sensed the older man was telling the truth. That there was no more information to be gained on Allison Clark from him. He'd have to search all the private school records for the year he was born and hope to get lucky with the name.

The Old Bear nodded to Alex's wedding band.

"I see you're married. That blond for the picture?" he asked.

"Norma. Yes. She's been good for me." Alex admitted with a shrug.

"Still living in the farm house?" Marcus asked.

"Yes." Alex said fishing into his wallet for the school pictures of the kids. "Dylan, Norman and Ingrid. We adopted Norma's younger sister over two years ago. She's a violin prodigy; some kind of genius."

Marcus eyed each picture with only slight interest.

"No kids of your own I see." he grumbled.

"We're expecting a little girl in a few months." he told his father. "We're naming her Lilly."

Marcus looked annoyed.

"Well, Sheriff, you've led quite a good life. Glad you came to rub my nose in it."

"Dad." Alex said softly. It had been decades since he'd called the Old Bear anything but 'Sheriff' or 'Sir'. This action caught the older man's attention. "You remember when I was little and I ran around with Keith and Maggie Summers?"

"Sure." Marcus said with a smile. "Bobby Paris and Johnny Brennan to. Always getting into trouble. Always roaming about the woods and coming home late during the summer."

"Remember when Maggie Summers nearly feel off that cliff and you repelled down and got her?" Alex asked.

Marcus smiled.

"Yeah. Just anther day on the job. You know how it is, son." he said. "Always a hero."

"She was telling me about that. I'd forgotten." Alex admitted. "I'd forgotten all about that. Ed Warren told me to, that you saved him from his dad. He was abusing them when they were really little."

"Cody." Marcus said sadly. "Very tragic. Wish I could have done more."

"Ed always liked you because you saved him from his father. He was so mean to them. Abused them so badly. Cody drank bleach just to get away." Alex said softly.

"It was very sad. Ed and Chelsea Warren had a hard childhood. Never trusted that aunt of theirs either. Laura Warren? Bit of an oddity." Marcus said.

"Just, sometimes I forget you were a good cop is all." Alex said.

Marcus looked away and out at the driving rain.

"That's not how I'll be remembered, Alex." he said darkly. "So you just always keep your nose clean. Keep your moral compass strait."

"Dad?" Alex asked. "Do you remember if there was ever an old well on our property? An old house? From before great-granddad built the main farm house?"

Marcus seemed to think about it.

"Not sure. You know how it is in those woods. So dense you can't see three feet in front of you sometimes. You found a house?" he asked.

"My son, my youngest fell into a disused well on our property." Alex said going with his instinct to tell the Old Bear everything. Simon wasn't around to give answers so Marcus Romero was the next best thing. "We got him out and he's fine, but… we found something. Forensics says it's human remains."

"And you want to know if I know who it is?" The Old Bear said mockingly. "One of the bodies I had buried? Why? So you can add another life sentence onto my time here?"

"No." Alex said quickly.

"You come here and tell me about your perfect life. Your adopted kids and your pretty wife who's having a baby all your own. A life I never got to have. Rubbing my face in it again? Like I don't remember how adopting you was supposed to fix whatever was wrong with your mother?" The Old Bear snarled.

Alex leaned away from the older man. There was savagery in his eyes now.

"All your mother wanted was a baby of her own. I thought having a child would snap her out of it. Would bring her out of that… abyss she was always in. When we got you, she was so happy. For a few years she was happy. But you couldn't fix her could you? You couldn't save our marriage. Just like you and this wife of yours having a baby now won't save a damn thing. Eventually she'll leave you. They aways do." Marcus Romero said hatefully.

Alex stood up. He was done listening to ravings of this forgotten prisoner.

"We're done here." he said. "You don't know Norma and you don't know my marriage or our children. You're comparing your own failures and blaming a child for your wife dying."

"You were supposed to make her happy." Marcus said bitterly.

"I don't know why I thought you were any different." Alex shook his head. "I don't know why I thought you'd changed."


	143. Chapter 143

143.

~ Ed Warren wanted to leave this house. Sometimes he agreed with Ingrid about the old family homestead. It seemed less like a home and more like a tomb most days. It's darkness seemed to stretch beyond the property lines and it felt like a burden he could never escape.

Most days, he knew he would always have to live here. In this gloomy old mansion meant only for ghosts to haunt. A place the living found inhospitable.

His aunt Laura had trained him and Chelsea long ago to always keep the drapes closed tight against the sunlight. As a result, darkness hugged every corner here and who knew what was really lurking in the shadows.

 _'_ _Sunlight fades the rugs and mother's needlework.'_ Aunt Laura warned them if she caught the children peeping through the heavy drapes and letting in a chink of bright sunlight into the museum like sitting room.

So, sunlight never entered the front room or the hallways or bedrooms. And, as a result, nothing ever faded. Aunt Laura had even forbidden the children from walking on the rugs and sitting on the valuable antiques. The things that had belonged to her grandparents and were older than the grand old house itself.

The only place Ed and Chelsea could ever relax was the kitchen and their upstairs playroom. An attic room that Ed had renovated for his own children. For whatever reason, he'd refused to allow his new bride to redecorate their home together. His grim boyhood in this house still holding him hostage somehow. Its ghosts still keeping him a prisoner.

He allowed Renee to redo their bedroom and the boys room. He allowed the attic playroom to be redone, but refused to allow anything else to be touched.

"This house… almost everything in here is original." he explained when she wanted to get rid to the living room set that they couldn't use or even touch.

It was enough he allowed new appliances in the kitchen. He could feel Aunt Laura's stern judgment about these modifications to her house. A house she didn't really want Ed to live in. They were supposed to go together after all; he and Aunt Laura. They were supposed to leave this world together. There was no place for them in this world.

Still, having Dylan and Ingrid here in the house made things seem brighter. He allowed Aunt Laura's green velvet curtains to be opened in the sitting room. Allowed sunlight in. Saw for the first time that the wallpaper needed to be replaced and the ancient turkey rug, despite all of Aunt Laura's protections and safeguards, had been gnawed on by an errant mouse or two.

"Ed?" Chelsea voice reached him as he took careful inventory of all the little improvements he'd have to make to the museum that was his aunt's sitting room. It was a room for the dead. A place only ghosts would ever want to live in. Filled with photographs and the belongings of people long departed, antiques, and nothing that was relevant to anyone in the past fifty years.

"What are you doing?" Chelsea asked.

"What would you think if we sold the house?" Ed asked suddenly. "Sold the house. Moved away."

Chelsea looked at him skeptically.

"Ed, you've lived in this house since Cody died. You've never lived anywhere else except in the dorms in college." she pointed out. "You could never sell this house."

"I think I could." he said pulling gently at the wallpaper his great grandfather had installed. It had once been a rich blue with merry little birds sitting on branches. Now, the birds had all washed away with time. They were nothing but pale imitations of what they once were.

"You want to leave White Pine Bay?" Chelsea asked.

"I don't know." Ed sighed. "I think maybe we should buy a new house though. A place without any bad memories. Patty Wright down at the reality office is always saying she could get us a good price for this place."

"Patty Wright is prone to exaggeration." Chelsea assured him. "Ed, why do you want to leave the family home?"

Ed focused on the antique sofa that had once matched the drapes. Now the drapes were bleached out from keeping the sun at bay and the sofa looked far too dark to have ever matched them.

"Sometimes it feels like I'll never be able to leave." he said. "Like I've always just existed here."

Chelsea looked at him sadly.

"Renee isn't coming back. Norma is having a baby with Alex Romero of all people." he said bitterly.

"Her husband." Chelsea reminded him.

"I think Renee always knew that I cared for Norma." Ed admitted pitifully. "She'd hoped it was just a crush, but it wasn't. I love her. I've loved her for a long time now. When Alex was down in that well getting Norman out, I was praying to God that the rope would snap and he'd fall to his death."

"Ed." Chelsea whispered in shock.

Ed held back tears.  
"I'd be there for her." he said simply. "I'd be there to pick up the pieces after her husband died. I wouldn't hesitate to step in. I kept thinking she would be free to marry me and I would stop trying to get Renee to come home and finally sign the divorce papers. I mean, Norma would need me if Alex died."

Ed felt a little better after he admitted to his sister about his little fantasy.

"She would need me to look after her if she lost her husband. And I would." he admitted. "So, that's why I think we should sell the house. I think we should move away from White Pine Bay. Because I hated to see Alex Romero coming back out of that well safe and sound. Hated to see him go home with the woman I think of as my wife. Hate to see her carrying another man's child." Ed said soberly.

Chelsea looked at her brother with real pity on her face.

"Sheriff Romero just called. He'll be here in half an hour to pick of Dylan and Ingrid." she said.

~ It was always peaceful on the farm. Norma had actually forgotten what it was like to live in crowded apartments with paper thin walls and the sounds of noisy neighbors fighting, slamming doors in the parking lot. The general upheaval of the human race all around her.

Here, she could pretend they were all alone; the last people in the world. The sky was growing dark and it would rain soon. Even as Norma efficiently folded the sheets off the clothes line and snapped them into shape, she could feel the first pin prick of rain.

The land around the house was deathly still. Anticipating the storm that promised to be strong. Norma had gotten used to these overbearing rainstorms that flushed everything out. The cold and dampness that always hung around White Pine Bay had taken time to adapt to. She was accustomed to the dry heat of Arizona. The way the air felt on the skin and how it only became cold when the sun went down. Then, the landscape was like an alien world. Freezing cold and endless stretches of nothingness.

Here, the only thing that was endless was the trees and stillness. The solitude that was always peaceful.

Another rain drop fell and she hurriedly finished bringing in the dry sheets. She had a brand new dryer in her perfectly designed laundry room; but she wanted to catch the sunlight while she could and allow them to blow anything loose from the kids bedding.

It occurred to Norma that she hardly thought about her life before coming here. It was like her life with Sam had just been an awful nightmare and this was always her reality. She'd always lived here with Alex and the children. Dylan, Ingrid and Norman were always there and they were always safe.

She didn't want to remember a life before this. A life of bills she couldn't pay and being scared all the time. The small apartment where she and the boys were always in Sam's way. Where she couldn't imagine the life she had now.

She felt another rain drop fall and hurried inside with her laundry basket. Alex had called and said he'd be home soon and she would be glad to have everyone under one roof again. She didn't like Ingrid and Dylan being away for too long. A part of her worried about what Ed might say to them.

Norma had to admit to herself that it was comforting to have Ed there when Norman was in the well and Alex had bravely and without hesitation repelled down to get him. She had foolishly demanded they wait for professionals to get her son out, even as EMS was arriving with a blaze of flashing lights.

Her husband had looked at her calmly and reminded her that he was the professionals. That he was the Sheriff and he'd been rock climbing since he was Norman's age. That he could see Norman wasn't in the water and was hugging the walls of the well.

"He's probably not even hurt, Norma. I'll be right back." Alex had said before Wilson and another deputy had lowered him down into the darkness.

Although she had no right to feel such a way, Norma had felt hurt that Alex had dismissed her worries about Norman. Her son, her fragile son, had fallen down a cold and horrible well like something from a horror movie. Alex had acted like he was picking him up from school or something.

Then Ed Warren had arrived had pulled Norma into his arms telling her everything she needed to hear. Soothing every panicked emotion her husband had so easily dismissed.

"I'm sorry this happened. I know it's scary but kids are tough, especially your kids. Alex knows what he's doing. It's going to make an interesting story for Norman to tell his grandkids one day." Ed had said as she cried and worried.

Norma had noticed, while Ed Warren embraced her, that his body felt wonderful in the midst of such a crisis. His chest and arms strong and cable and his words intelligent and kind.

"Coming out!" Wilson had shouted and Norma had stiffened and tried to move away from Ed, but he kept her close to him.

"Give them some space to work." he told her calmly when Norma saw Alex's head come out of the well first. Norman was clinging to him like a frightened sloth from the nature channel. His big blue eyes wide with fear and his clothes damp and muddy.

It had been the most beautiful thing she'd ever witnessed and Ed had to hold her back to keep from racing over and pulling Norman to the safety of the ground.

"He's safe." Ed told her keeping her close to the ambulance so she could easily ride with Norman and her husband. "He's safe and no more worrying. It's bad for the baby."

She hadn't ever thought he would do it, Ed was usually good about keeping his hands to himself, but Norma had gasped at the feel of his large palm going to her stomach. To the rise that was Alex's child and not his.

She had pulled away from him and could feel her face grow hot with embarrassment. They were surrounded by friends and Alex's subordinates. What if someone saw? Gossip in this town was toxic.

She had felt her heart melt at the sight of Alex holding Norman, the same as the first time he'd held him as a toddler walking to the ambulance. He'd never looked more attractive and heroic. She could have watched him all day.

Now, Norma pushed away the idea of Ed holding her like that. Of how his hands went possessively to her body and what he was trying to say with that touch. In another life, if she'd never met Alex Romero, she could have been happy with Ed Warren. She knew that. Knew that they would get along well enough and he would love her just as well as Alex did.

Still, that wasn't the life she was leading now; and she liked her life.

Her thoughts were broken by the sounds of Dylan and Ingrid fighting on the front porch. She hadn't even heard them come home and here they were, shouting at each other like nothing had changed.

"Mom!" Ingrid said happily when they entered the living room and naturally progressed to the kitchen to find their mother checking on dinner.

"How's Norman?" Ingrid asked.

"Sorry, Mom." Dylan said sincerely.

"I kept telling them Norman was fine." Alex sighed. The Sheriff looking more exhausted than normal just now. "Dinner smells good." he added perking up at the smell of a roast cooking.

"Norman is fine. He's in his room but I don't want you upsetting him." Norma said. She glanced at Alex who nodded. "We got a visit from a social worker about what happened and she went into Norman's room and broke something."

Ingrid made a confused face and Dylan looked surprised.

"Why would a social worker come here?" Dylan asked.

"Because your brother fell down a well and that's kind of a red flag." Alex said sarcastically peeking in the oven.

"Stay out of there!" Norma warned and her husband snapped the oven door shut quickly again.

"Why the hell would she go into Norman's room?" Ingrid asked with a sour face.

"Don't swear." Norma warned. She was comforted by the feel of being in control again. Of snapping unruly children into place like she did with her house work and laundry.

"Are we in trouble?" Dylan asked sensibly. Norma and Alex exchanged looks. He still seemed worn out. Like something had taken the wind out of him.

"No." Alex said. "You two weren't doing anything wrong. It was an accident. It happens."

"What going on with the well and the house?" Ingrid asked.

"The right people are looking into it." Norma said with a tone that said the discussion was over. "I want you to go upstairs and say hi to your brother and then I'll call you when dinner is ready."

She watched her two oldest give her a resigned look before leaving them alone.

"Where were you?" she asked softly. Full aware they still might be heard.

"Drove up to visit my dad." Alex said nonchalantly. "You haven't been on your feet all day have you?"

He nodded to her feet which were too swollen for normal shoes.

"Don't change the subject." she warned. "You saw your dad?"

Alex nodded humbly.  
"Told him we got married. About Lilly. About Simon and Sybil passing away." Alex explained.  
"And?" Norma asked.

"He didn't look good. He had a broken hip. He was glad to see me."

Norma ran a hand over her belly. She'd debated on wether or not to write to Marcus Romero about his father passing and news the new baby but had decided against it. It was best if she stayed out this.

"Oh." Norma said meekly.

"I want to find Allison Clark. I got some more information from the Old Bear and I think we should hire an investigator to locate her." Alex said suddenly.

"Are you sure? You haven't even read her old birthday cards." Norma pointed out. "The ones Sybil gave you."

Alex laced his hands in hers and nodded at the rise in her belly.  
"I changed my mind." He admitted.


	144. Chapter 144

144.

~ For reasons unknown, Lilly was only active when Norma was alone.

Norma rested a hand on her belly and felt the distinctive flutter of her daughter kicking and moving inside her. She'd first felt the baby move a few days ago, but Alex had been out of the house and she was waiting for the right time to surprise him with their child's first movements.

She had desperately wanted it to seem spontaneous. For Alex to share the moment with her, so she had been careful not to let on that the baby was moving already without him there to experience it. In her mind, it would be a special moment they could share and remember; but Lilly, already stubborn like her father, didn't want to cooperate.

Whenever Alex was near, or had just come back into the room, she settled down and was still. Almost like she was playing games with her mother.

Norma felt a rush of annoyance at this. Reminded helplessly of the singing frog from 'Loony Tunes' who refused to perform in front of anyone else.

She ran her hand over her stomach and felt the ticklish flutter again. It was light but defiantly there.

"Is that a foot?" she whispered.

She felt a flutter of little bubbles tickling inside her and remembered the first time she had felt Dylan move. It seemed a lifetime ago now. Almost like it had happened to a different person. She'd been so young and scared when she finally realized what was happening to her. The missed cycles, the tenderness in her breasts and in her youthful ignorance, Norma didn't connect it to being pregnant until her belly became slightly swollen. By then she was almost five months along and there was no turning back. Her mother certainly hadn't noticed and Caleb had been arrested two months before for breaking into a store.

Their father, horrible man that he was, had taken a mysterious job out of state. He often went away for a few days out of the month to do these activities that always brought home cash. But he would be home soon and when he saw Norma's condition, he would kill her. Literally kill her.

She'd only ever been with John a few times and he'd been good about protecting the both of them. Still, Norma had hoped it was her boyfriend's baby and not Caleb's. Caleb who had started drinking and would come into her bedroom at night. His hands and body strong and ape like. Pinning her down and doing what he wanted. As if Norma was just an object he could use instead of his own flesh and blood sister.

When Norma told John about her condition, he suggested they run away and get married. Move to a larger city where he could find work. He'd already finished high school by then, Norma could attend night classes and maybe graduate early.

The plan had seemed so simple. So perfect. They had left that week and were married in a court house in the next county. John paid for an apartment with his graduation money and they didn't need much. It had been blissful; back then. No worries about her angry father and greedy brother. Norma could take care of her and John and it was fun to play house. John found work and she finished high school before the baby came and it was just as just as they planned.

Until it started to fall apart. How to explain to John about their baby. When he was born, it wasn't as noticeable, but soon, Dylan's paternity was clear. His blond hair, blue eyes and fair complexion looked nothing like John. Nothing at all like John's brown eyes, black hair and darker skin tone.

Norma didn't blame her young husband for resenting her. She didn't even blame him for abandoning them. It was no ones fault. Maybe that was why she'd fallen to quickly and easily for Sam Bates. That fear of being all alone with a young baby to care for. With the fights between her and John escalating everyday to the point she knew he would leave.

Sam Bates had come in and it seemed like the answers to her prayers. He drove a nice car. Had a good job and he wanted her and Dylan to come live with him. It had felt like a neatly sprung trap that she walked right into afterwards.

She felt Lilly move again and wondered for the thousandth time if her parents ever gave her any thought after she left home.

They never came looking for her and she never saw them again. Norma wondered if they thought about their other daughter. The one born after Norma had fled that disastrous home. If they wondered about either girl's life and thought about the fact they might have grandparents.

Her parents had never seen Dylan or Norman and it was doubtful they even knew of their existence.

Norma tired to push away these bitter, angry thoughts but it was always hard. Her children deserved grandparents. Alex could only give the children Tom and Tess as valid substitutes, but it wasn't the same thing. She wanted to tell the children with pride about where they came from. That they were so much better than garbage people who lived their lives on government aide and who roamed the country like wild, dirty gypsies. Always living on the edge, never having a place to call home or real safety.

Lily kicked her again as if telling her to knock off the bad thoughts. It had been a hard kick this time; the best one so far.

"I know." Norma sighed and leaned over to examine all the birthday cards Allison Clark had sent to her very young son over the first few years of his life.

The cards were always written to an unnamed person, but were signed with a very girlish flare. Alison had dotted her **i's** with little hearts and her **A** had a distinctive bowing about it. The kind of pretty handwriting girls work very hard to achieve.

Norma never had handwriting this pretty or silly, but she would have liked to when she was younger. She would have liked to have been like Allison. Attending a beautiful private school where they had uniforms and she didn't have to worry about her clothes not being nice enough. Where they learned about other cultures and studied French. Where they took field trips to amazing countries in the summer. Where they prepared, not for the minimum wage job market, but for elite universities that their mothers and fathers had gone before them.

Allison probably had a nice house growing up with her own bedroom decorated in soft pink. A place where she had elegant furniture and didn't have to sleep on a mattress on the floor with dirty sheets.

Norma found herself hating Allison. Hating a girl who'd been born with excessive privilege and yet, it wasn't enough. She still had to rebel and fool around with a teacher. Added to that she decided to seek out her birth parents because she wasn't satisfied with the parents who'd given her everything.

Norma wondered how Allison could give up her child. How she could feel that life growing inside her and not protect and love it with a fearsome savagery. When Dylan was born, Norma had felt a love so strong she was sure she could rip apart the world. Did Allison not feel that? Or maybe the siren call to her former life was too powerful.

Lilly kicked again just as Norma heard Alex come back inside from checking the permitter of the house and barn. His big heavy footfalls making a predictable noise around the house as he closed and locked the back door, walked across the kitchen and re-checked the front door.

She could feel Lilly settle down and go quite as the floorboards creaked and Alex came into their bedroom.

"Hi." she said when her husband appeared at last. The cold was becoming intense this year and the chilly fall air was clinging to Alex's clothing.

"Hi." he grinned when he saw his wife sitting patiently on their bed looking through Allison's old birthday cards.

"Are you sure you want to try and contact her?" Norma asked again. "I mean, she stopped writing to you when you were about eight. Maybe she has another family and they don't know about you. Your dad said her parents didn't even know."

"I have to." Alex explained sitting on the edge of their bed and pulling off his shoes. "If it was your mother wouldn't you want to know?"

Norma shrugged. She hadn't seen her mother in over ten years now.

"My parents don't know about Dylan or Norman." she explained without a hint of self pity. "They never tried to contact us."

Alex sighed a little and looked sad.

"Sorry." he said climbing into bed with her.

Lilly still refused to move or kick.

"I guess I keep forgetting about that." he admitted. "I've made an appointment with Tom and, they'll be wrapping up the investigation into the well."

"They know who's bones were there?" Norma asked hopefully.

Alex shook his head.

"Doubtful. It's only been a week. These things take time, Norma." he explained.

"But you'll be allowed to go back to work, right?" she asked. It had been a discussion they didn't want to have. This specter of Alex losing his job over something he wasn't involved in.

"They have to prove I had no knowledge of this and that I didn't do it." he said.

Norma ran a hand over her stomach. Alex's whole identity was tied up in his work. If he were to lose that, he'd be devastated.

"I didn't live here after I graduated." Alex shrugged. "The property wasn't used for years, Norma."

He seemed to sense her worry.  
"Don't think about it." he told her. "That house and well were very old and it will all blow over soon."

"I hope so." she said. "We kind of need to keep your health insurance." she pointed to her belly where Lilly had fallen asleep.

"We will." he said easily. "I'm going to talk to Tom and find out what's happening. See about searching the national database for Allison Clark and any teachers who…"

"Who look like you." Norma finished with a smile.

"Yeah." he said sadly. "It's funny. In another life I'd be arresting him for statutory rape. I mean if Ingrid had been seduced by a teacher, someone we trusted-"

"Ingrid isn't that stupid." Norma said without thinking. She'd already formed a harsh opinion of Allison Clark in her mind and branded her as a silly, spoiled and manipulative girl. One who was good in school but who lacked any common sense. Ingrid was far too complex to fall for any seductive pick up line.

"Sorry." she sighed. "It's just, I don't like the fact she just allowed this illegal adoption to happen and then ran back home. It's like she was ashamed of you and wanted to be a teenager again."

"If you had the chance to undo having Dylan or Norman, would you?" Alex asked thoughtfully.  
"No." Norma said with mild bitterness. She could feel her face contorting in disgust. "I can't imagine a life without them. Of not being their mother. It's hard to explain. It feels like I was born to be their mother. Through good times and bad."

Alex smiled softly.

"What about this one?" he nodded suggestively to her belly.

She smiled knowingly at him.

"I think we're going to make great parents, Sheriff." she whispered.

As if on cue, Lilly kicked her. The kind of kick that led to other kicks.

Norma quickly gasped and grabbed ahold of Alex's hand. The phantom movements still rippling under the tight skin. Lilly moved obligingly again, harder this time. Pushing herself inside as she if she was demanding more space. Alex's large hand lay flat on her stomach and caught all these new and strange movements. His daughter finally making herself known.

"Wow." Alex whispered when Lilly settled back down.

"She just did that." Norma smiled making Alex think this was the first time she'd ever felt any movement.

~ "News will break soon enough. Wanted to give you the courtesy of telling you in person what's happening." Tom Wilson said in his corse and direct language.

Alex braced himself for the worst.

"The bones were human." Tom said once booth men were settled in Alex's office. Romero noticing that Tom had seated himself behind his old desk and left Alex to take a seat opposite him. It set his expectations for what was going to happen next.

"The county has elected to suspend you from active duty until we know more." Wilson told him carefully. "You'll still get paid and your health insurance will still be valid. Mayor Heldens insisted on that. He made a point of reminding the board you've had an exceptional service record and that the property has been under the control of your father for sometime before he went to prison."

Alex nodded and said nothing. Thankful, although he would never admit it, that Norma had always been kind to George Heldens.

"I want to know what you found." Alex said. "Any idea? Since the media is going to know anyway they'll ask me."

"The bones were female. Fully grown and right now it's difficult to estimate how long they were down there. The well was cold and the water didn't help. We didn't find any clothing or anything we can use to determine who she is." Tom explained.

"So, all we have to do is prove she died before Norma and I moved onto the property." Alex concluded.

" **We** , are not doing anything, son." Tom said sternly. "I've been appointed interim Sheriff until we have all the tests done."

Alex nodded.

"Shouldn't take longer than a couple of weeks but the coroner's initial exam indicates the bones are older. Although they can't determine a cause of death." Tom sighed. "When I hold the press conference, I'll make sure not to give much attention to who's property this happened on. They will find out though, they always do. Just pray a bigger story develops."

"I saw my dad yesterday." Alex admitted suddenly.

Tom looked a little surprised.

Alex shrugged.  
"Asked him about the well. I don't think he even knew about it." the younger man said.

"Well." Tom said sympathetically. "Let's hope this will all work out quickly and we can get back to the business of you running the show and me enjoying my retirement."

~ Norma saw the chaotic scene of news vans and reporters crowded around the normally uneventful Sheriff's station as she drove past. She wanted to check on Alex, but quickly changed her mind at seeing what would soon become a circus.

Downtown was close to Grand Street and she had the sudden inspiration to say hi to Ed and Chelsea before going to the grocery store. Chelsey worked downtown and she might have more information, and Ed Warren knew everything happening in this town.

She almost didn't notice the ' _For Sale by Owner_ ' sign sticking out prominently in the well manicured front lawn. Even without that addition, she couldn't have missed the workers applying a fresh coat of paint to the house and trimming back hedges that had been allowed to grow wild over the decades.

"What's going on?" she gaped at the gardening team landscaping the Victorian style backyard. Years of neglect had weathered the statues of cherubs and a large birdbath. They were now being pressure washed and new grass being laid down. Even the small gazebo was being painted.

"We've decided to sell the house." Ed told her pulling her inside the once musty old mansion.

Norma had to do a double take at the change in the Warren family home. The heavy green drapes were completely gone and sunlight filtered into a now empty sitting room. A place that, as long as she'd known Ed Warren, had been a perfect time capsule of the last century.

"Selling?" she repeated. "You're moving?"

Ed nodded and closed the entryway door so that the noise for outside was deadened and they were alone.

"Chelsea and I think it's for the best." he admitted. "We've been living in this house for too long and…" he shrugged. "We think we need to start over."

"You're leaving White Pine Bay?" Norma asked in shock.

Ed nodded.  
"I've been offered a teaching position in Portland. Renee thinks it's a good idea. She's even offered to come help me house hunt. She's bringing the kids and everything. I'm not saying were getting back together or anything… but it's a start." he said carefully.

Norma looked at him in horror. Ed Warren had been one of her closet friends. Someone she depended on. How could he leave her?  
"When?" she asked trying to hold back tears. Ed shrugged.  
"As soon as the house sells. We're putting things in storage for now. I have an antique dealer who's interested in almost all the furniture and even the old needlework." Ed laughed. "Our realtor thinks we can get a good price on the house. More than enough to get a new place in Portland."

He smiled nervously.

"The hard part right now is getting this old place fixed up." he said with a false smile. "You wouldn't believe how much junk had to be moved out of the basement and attics. My family has lived here since 1912 and this stuff really piles up."

"Ed." Norma said sorrowfully.

"I'll still come by." he told her. "It'll be a few months at least. Plenty of time to baptize the new addition to the Romero family." he nodded to her protruding stomach.

Norma looked down as if just remembering she was pregnant. The hurt from his leaving must have been clear on her face because Ed was quick to reassure her.

"It's for the best, Norma." he whispered gravely.


	145. Chapter 145

145.

 **~ HUMAN REMAINS FOUND ON PROPERTY OF LOCAL SHERIFF. ~**

~ Norma felt her stomach turn that had nothing to do with Lilly. The banner headline was strikingly bold and grabbed her attention, as it would anyone. Alex had prepared them for this. Last night he'd sat everyone down and told them what was happening. Ingrid and Dylan had been horrified and scared. Norman had seemed only mildly curious.

"Did she die in the well? We're they not able to get her out in time?" he asked.

Alex had taken a deep breath before answering.

"We-we don't know yet, Norman; but we will." he reassured them all. His voice slightly shaking. "You also need to know that until they have a better idea of what happened…" he looked cautiously at Ingrid and Dylan. "They have appointed Tom as acting Sheriff."

"You're not Sheriff anymore?" Dylan practically cried.

"That's bullshit!" Ingrid snapped pulling her face into a scowl Alex always accused Norma of making when she was particularly disgusted at something.

"Ingrid." Norma sighed while Norman started to clutch his hands nervously together, making his body look smaller. It had become a habit of his since the social worker had invaded his room.

"Will you still get paid?" Ingrid huffed.

"Yes." Alex assured them. "Everything will be like normal, it's just like a paid vacation. The police do this all the time when there's a conflict of interest."

"What's that mean?" Dylan asked.

"It means Dad isn't allowed to work on the case since that lady's bones were found on his property." Ingrid said hatefully.

"Pretty much." Alex nodded.

"You could work on other things." Norman said helpfully.

"It's important to make it look like I'm not interfering with the investigation." Alex told him.

"Won't it make you look guilty if your suspended?" Ingrid asked. Her nose wrinkling in worry.

"No." Alex told her sternly. "Police agencies have to do this all the time."

He looked at his three children. Norma recognized the stern 'Sheriff Romero' she first met when she came to White Pine Bay and felt her heart melt a little.

"Now, your friends might ask you about this and you can tell them the truth." he said. "But you know they might tease or bully you. You've all had to deal with that before because of my job."

Ingrid and Dylan had nodded and said nothing. Norman clutched his hands tighter together as if in prayer and said nothing. His eyes looking away.

Finally, her younger son spoke up.

"What will they do with her?" he asked.  
"With who?" Alex asked.

"The lady. From the well." Norman clarified. "What will they do with her?"

Norma had taken the lead on that.

"That lady, that's just her body. Remember?" she said. "Her soul isn't in her body and hasn't been for a long time."

"I've been worrying about her." Norman confessed. "Will they bury her?"

"Probably. After they looked at her bones." Alex told her.

Norman didn't seem to like this idea. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Norman, don't think about it." his mother said.

~ Now this horrible headline. Something Norma would not put in the scrapbook she'd lovingly kept for Alex with all his featured heroics. Saving Norman from Sam's attack was the first newspaper item she'd ever placed there and the book was almost full. She'd joked that she'd have to buy a new one soon.

No, this wasn't a headline she wanted to remember. She read the story attached and hated the headline was so deceiving. It was meant to sell the paper but the story was the truth. Norman's accident had unearthed human remains in the well. The property had belonged to Sheriff Alex Romero and had been in the Romero family for almost seventy years now. That there are no documents in the county about the abandoned house and there were no clues to who lived there.

Still, people would gossip. If there was one thing in this town people loved to do, that was gossip. It had been that way when Alex had shot Sam. Added to the scandal was the fact Norma and Alex had started dating so soon after. It had been a delicacy of town fodder for them to enjoy, but had died down when Norma and Alex got married and appeared painfully boring with a house full of children.

This felt different though. It felt like a cloud hanging over their heads. Something that was ready to cast a horrible downpour.

Norma, read her own name and Norman's in the news story and felt slightly sick at the idea they, and the family home, had been dragged into this. She'd always kept the home a fortress. A safe place no one could enter or disturb. It was exactly the kind of house she'd always wanted. Right down to the large laundry room she'd dreamed of just a few years ago. Now, it felt tainted by the unwanted opinions of others.

Norma had gone to the grocery store that morning and could feel the eyes of the other shoppers cutting into her like knives. People stopping their conversations when she turned the corner and looked surprised to see her.

The only one who hadn't acted out of the ordinary was Maggie Summers. Norma always tried to get into Maggie's checkout line. She'd even timed her shopping to the days Maggie worked because the woman, not much older than Norma, never said an unkind thing to her and was always happy to see her.

"I worried after little Norman so much when I heard what happened." Maggie had said and told Norma about an accident she'd had as a child. One the required the older Sheriff Romero to rescue her. "I just can't imagine how you felt knowing that little boy was down there and you couldn't get him yourself. It must have been so hard. Is he okay? No bad dreams or anything?" she'd asked sympathetically.

Norma had breathed a sigh of relief. It was nice to know Maggie cared. That she was too honest of a person to pretend to be nice.

"He's doing much better." Norma had assured her. "Kids are pretty resilient."

"Good." Maggie breathed as she check out the items. She nodded at Norma. "Baby doing okay? I worried about that to."

"Baby's fine." Norma smiled.

"Well, don't let all this awful business get to you." Maggie shook her head. "People in this town are so mean but don't take it personally."

Norma nodded and felt a little better that Maggie wasn't afraid to speak the truth.

"I know." she said.

"You heard about Ed Warren and his sister putting the old house up sale?" Maggie suddenly asked with wide eyes as she bagged the groceries and Norma fished out her money.

Norma had taken a deep breath. She didn't like to think about it. Hadn't even spoken to Alex or the kids about it. Too much had already happened and she didn't want to upset Norman.

"Yes." she said.

"Lived here all his life, and now he's leaving." Maggie shook her head. "I hear they already got a buyer for that place. You should have seen the ad the realtor took out in the paper. Can't believe what they're asking for it. They might just get it."

~ Norma flipped over the paper and scowled at the color advertisement for the now stunning Victorian mansion on Grand Street. Ed and Chelsea had hired the right people to completely give the house a new look. All of the details and faded beauty now popping to life in what the ad said was its' original of pale green with dark green accents. Norma read about it's five bedrooms and two bathrooms, all with original fixtures. The backyard with a gazebo and it's historic registry of homes the real estate agent had thought would be a good selling point. If Maggie was right, and the Warrens got what they were asking for, they'd be rich.

Norma felt her heart hurt at the idea of her friend leaving. She'd enjoyed Chelsea being apart of their lives, but Ed had always been a calming and comforting influence on her life and the children's. A romance had never materialized, never would, but it hurt her to think Ed was abandoning her now.

As if sensing her loneliness, Alex stormed into the house from the few chores he'd put himself to work at that morning.

"Keeping busy, Sheriff?" Norma teased without turning around. Her husband must be bored and cranky with his sudden time off. He hated having nothing to do.

"Cleaned out the barn." He said washing his hands. "Didn't take long."

"That's Dylan's job." Norma reminded him. "His and Norman's. It's how they earn their allowance."

"Well, I don't have anything else to do." Alex said fitfully. "Tom isn't sure when the suspension will be lifted. They sent the bones to the FBI forensics office in Washington and who knows how long that will take."

"Maybe you can use this time to write that crime novel you keep talking about." Norma said standing up and rinsing her coffee cup in the sink.

Alex smirked at her.

"That's **your** dream, baby." he said. "You're the one who's always reading those true crime books. I think you might be plotting my murder."

"Maybe." Norma grinned and Alex smiled.

He nodded to the paper on the kitchen table.

"You're not reading that trash; are you? I don't want you to worry. It's bad for the baby." he said.

"I'm not worried." she lied. "I was reading the listing for Ed and Chelsea's house. The asking price is outrageous. I heard they already have offers."

Alex was quite for a moment. His eyes cast away from her.

"I heard that to." he admitted in a dark voice.

Norma didn't say anything. Letting the conversation fall flat. She knew how Alex felt about Ed Warren sometimes. How they could be friends and still feel like rivals.

The distraction of a car pulling into the driveway alerted both of them. It was unusual to have unannounced visitors out here. The last person who came to the house had been the social worker.

The man who emerged from the car looked too thin and spindly to be a threat and Alex met him on the porch.

"Norma?" her husband called looking worried.

She followed Alex outside and the thin man nodded to her.

"Norma Romero? Formally Norma Bates?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Yes?" she said nervously.

He handed her a brown envelope.

"You've been served." he said and quickly walked away, starting his car and leaving.

Norma looked at the envelope with her name and address on it. It had both 'Romero' and 'Bates' as a possible name for her.

"Alex?" Norma asked looking curiously at the envelope.

He took it from her and opened it.

"Who are Beverly and John Bates?" he asked handing her back the official looking letter.

"Sam's parents." Norma said automatically. "Norman's grandparents. He hasn't seen them since before we came here."

The names reminded her of the distant and cold in-laws she barely knew before she and Sam moved out of state with their newborn son.

She quickly read the letter. All the legal wording becoming jumbled but one thing was clear.

"Sam's parents are suing me for custody of Norman." she gasped.

 **I feel it was always important to have a rival for Norma's affection in this story. George and Shelby weren't a worthy rival and couldn't hold a candle to Alex. But Ed was truly perfect. Someone who was kind, but damaged by childhood trauma. Who wanted a life of stability and family. Similar to Alex and Norma. I feel like the show would have been more interesting with a solid character who would challenge Alex for Norma's affection and Alex would win. I also never liked this plot point of Rebecca added on last minute in season 4 when she was never mentioned before. Yet, she had a key to his new house after the house fire that caused him to stay at Bates Motel? I would have thought Alex wouldn't be seeing anyone that soon. Especially with everything Norma was throwing at him.**

 **I have an idea for a new story for Normero but I'd hate to leave this one again. It's becoming harder to write though. I'll admit there are so many plots and characters that I sometimes feel painted into a corner.**

 **I appreciate all your support though. Please let me know what you think and what you would like to read. I do enjoy a good fan request.**

 **Leah**


	146. Chapter 146

146.

~ Work on the new nursery was briefly halted after Norman's accident, but was now starting to take shape again. Alex had bravely assembled a new crib and had painted the walls of Norma's former sewing room with light shade of lavender.

It looked soft and feminine. Exactly as Norma had always wanted for her first girl. Looking at this blissful nursery, with it's elegant linens and matching dresser and crib, didn't make Norma happy. Not even putting up a delightful mobile over the crib could chase away this dark mood that had come to stay.

The mobile had been a going away gift from Ed and Chelsea Warren. The house on Grand Street having sold much faster than they originally expected it to, and they were moving quickly to Portland.

Norma loved the mobile with its' yellow little ducks being infinitely chased in a circle by happy looking rain clouds. It's music would play a charming piece by Chopin when wound up.

Alex had taken a white rocking chair out of the barn and placed it by the window. He'd promised to sand off all the chips and re-paint it when the weather improved, but Norma wanted to keep it as it was. It had been the same rocker his mother had when he was born.

They already had the small closet neatly organized with newborn clothes and small dresses that would carry Lilly to toddlerhood. Norma not allowing her new daughter to wear gender neutral clothing and insisting everything she wore would reflect that Lilly was the girl she always wanted.

Norma remembered sadly how Dylan and Norman didn't have the luxury of a well planned nursery. Of thoughtful gifts being given to prepare for a much wanted and already loved baby.

Lilly would be different. Lilly would never feel like she was in the way or a burden to her family. Not like Dylan and Norman had surely felt. Lilly would always be surrounded by her family and an extended community that cared for her. She'd be the fifth generation of Romero's to live in this farm house. A legacy of family was everywhere and she would always feel comforted by that.

"The lawyer said there's nothing to worry about." Alex's voice broke into her thoughts.

Norma was gently examining one of the little ducks on the mobile. Remembering when she had no such thing for Norman or Dylan.

"I know." Norma said bravely.

"In Oregon, grandparents rights are only if the child already has an established relationship that needs to be preserved." Alex told her. He was leaning in the doorframe of the nursery, as if afraid to come in and invade a feminine world he knew nothing about.

It was the same with Ingrid and her bedroom. Alex never set foot in her room and always knocked politely on her door. It was almost as if he was terrified of the girl who would one day be a woman.

The fleshing out of Lilly's room had effectively labeled her future space, like Ingrid's, as an environment he felt unwelcome in.

"It was that social worker." Norma said bitterly. "She called them and explained about Norman's accident. They didn't care about Norman and only saw him once after he was born. They never helped us with money or even called."

She hadn't meant for her tone to sound so harsh. Almost like how she used to be before she'd met Alex; full of anger, depression and resentment. Always looking to blame someone else. It was strange how she hand't felt that way since Alex had come along. How she felt more in control around him and how she just wasn't angry anymore.

Alex was always a calming influence. A man who was predictable and wasn't apt to rise to anger easily. Norma had always felt safe and supported by him, even before they were together.

All of that had melted away though at seeing those court papers. Ghost from her past blooming up out of nowhere. Suddenly, all her old anger had risen up and it was like she didn't know herself anymore.

"We have a good lawyer." Alex reminded her again. "He's going to scare them away, we won't even have to go to court or see them."

"That social worker labeled Norman 'mentally unstable'. She's trying to make it look like we abused him and now he can't function. That Sybil just turned a blind eye because of her age." Norma said. She didn't want to sound annoyed but couldn't help it. She always felt defensive about her youngest son. Her son who needed so much more protection than anyone else.

Dylan and Ingrid would be fine on their own. They were fearless and smart. They could survive anything life threw at them because they had always been adaptable and self sufficient. Norman couldn't even look at the color red and hated any change in routine. He needed her to look after him. He would always need her; even when he was an old man.

"We have Norman's teachers on our side. A diagnosis of his autism to explain his behavior." Alex said coolly.

"Bev and John are suing you for wrongful death of their son." Norma reminded him.

That had been the second shock that the Romero's had received after retaining legal help. Norman's grandparent's not seemingly upset at all about Sam's death before, now wanted a lot of money for 'their loss'.

"That's for internal investigation and our lawyers to handle." Alex reminded her. "The county ruled it self defense. You were injured, Dylan's statement backed it up. Hell, their own grandson was nearly killed by that maniac." Alex said smartly. "The Bates' think we're rich and are just greedy. We've got the same lawyer's Sybil had and they're a bunch of bulldogs. They'll make this all go away."

"For what they're charging I want Bev and John Bates on another planet." Norma spat.

Alex nodded and was wise enough not to say anything.

Norma looked back at the sweet looking little ducks.

"Alex?" she asked. "What if Lilly has autism like Norman?" It had been a fear that had lingered in the back of her mind for a while now. What if whatever cause Norman's behavior was genetic and Norma was at fault? What if she gave it to her baby?

She glanced at Alex who gave a soft smile and finally stepped into her daughter's room.

"You know how I feel about Norman." he told her sternly. All the fears suddenly melting away with how calm he could be. "He's never given us any real trouble; at least not intentionally." he smiled and Norma found herself smiling back. "He's always been a good kid."

"Not like those other two." Norma reminded him playfully.

"Yeah, they're awful." Alex agreed with a conspiratorial smile.

"I just want Lilly to be normal and healthy." she whimpered softly. She could feel the need to cry surging; her pregnancy making her emotions much sharper. "Why is it too much to ask for everything to just be normal?"

"Life isn't normal." he reminded her gently. "One day we'll look back on this and laugh."

"I worry so much about Norman." she admitted feeling the weight of all her fears well up and spring loose. "I worry he'll never get married. Never have a good job. That I'll always have to keep him safe from people who don't understand him."

" _We'll._ " Alex corrected. "You worry ' _we'll_ ' always have to keep him safe."

She gave him a weak smile and nodded.

"We don't know what's going to happen but it's not like he can't take care of himself. He's more responsible than most kids his age. He just… a little different." he reminded her.

Norma laughed dryly.

"God, think how Sam would have treated Norman if he was still alive." she said.

"No more worrying about this." Alex ordered softly.

Norma nodded but didn't look at him. Her focus still on the little duck mobile.

~ "Some kind of test they do at the FBI now." Tom was saying. His face grumpy as ever. "They call it carbon dating. I don't know. The woman sounded like an episode of

'Star Trek' when she explained it to me over the phone."

Alex sat up a little straiter and waited to hear the news. It was bad enough the paper had run a story about what happened. The body of a woman found on the Sheriff's property made for a tantalizing headline and the local and national press had run several follow ups.

"Carbon dating on the bones reviled they were over forty years old. Which clears you and Norma of any wrong doing." Tom said. "They found fillings and other dental work on her teeth that was common around the 1950's." he added.

Alex breathed a pent up sigh of relief.

"Thank God." he said.

"Yes, but we're still don't know who she is. Afraid records from that era are spotty. We know she was young, at least twenty or even thirty. She had never given birth, and was white. We know she had the money to fix her teeth, and that she was dumped in a well wrapped in a plastic shower curtain." Tom sighed. "Other than that, we have nothing. Not even a cause of death."

"Am I still suspended?" Alex asked getting to the heart of the matter.

"No." Tom said quickly. "I'll make a statement to the press telling them everything I told you. The FBI is taking the lead on this investigation. Lady probably ran afoul of someone. I'm hearing they're keeping her body for student's to study the case."

Alex winced. Norman wouldn't like that. He was sensitive to what happened to ' _earthly remains_ ' as Ed would have called them.

"We're not going to burry her?" Alex asked. "She deserves a proper burial."

"She's evidence." Tom shrugged. "Her body is unique because it was so well preserved in that well. She can teach future law enforcement better above ground. That's what really matters."

Alex decided quickly that he would lie to Norman and tell him that the lady from the well was properly buried somewhere else. It would disturb the child too much to know students were studying the poor woman's bones.

 **Short chapter I know. I wanted to get feedback on who you want this woman to be. I have an idea that Alex discovers she's the victim of a serial killer who operated in WPB in the late fifties and early sixties and his MO is like the movie 'Psycho' with the killer working at the same motel. That the woman in the well is one of many victims who died like Marion Crane did.**

 **Let me know what you think and if you want a certain story line.**


	147. Chapter 147

147.

~ "Graceland." Alex hissed. "Rocky, get down! Get off the bed."

The older German Shepherd growled menacingly at her former partner. Her teeth flashed in warning.

Rocky, Graceland's younger replacement, only glared at her partner before resting his head back on Norma's legs.

Nether dog's eyes ever left Alex. It was as though they didn't trust him or want him near the nice lady who always snuck them a snack of fried eggs and bacon.

Norma wasn't shocked. She briefly stopped reading the crime novel she'd been obsessed with and glanced at the dogs who had positioned themselves on either side of her.

"What's the matter with you two?" Alex asked when he moved away from Graceland. As soon as he was away from Norma, the dog stopped her low growling.

"It's because I'm pregnant." Norma sighed. "They want to protect me."

Alex looked back at Graceland and Rocky; both dogs intent on staying with Norma in the bed.

"Protect you from what?" Alex asked.

He waved at Graceland to move off the bed again and she growled.

"Hey!" Alex said feeling hurt at the sudden betrayal.

"Come on." Norma sighed and hefted her now very distorted body off the bed.

The dogs, their attention focused on the mother to be, kept their gaze on her and willingly flowed her to the living room where Norma told them to stay.

"Unreal." Alex shook his head and pulled back the covers on his side of the bed.

"They've been doing that for a while now." Norma said with a little grin when she came back to their room.  
"That dog hardly ever growls at me." Alex said feeling personally rejected by the partner he'd had for years.

"You should be happy." Norma said with a laugh. "It means they want to keep your daughter safe."

"I'm worried the dogs might be jealous of the baby." Alex admitted before collapsing into bed. It had been a hard few weeks back at work. Not just the curious stares from the other cops under his command, but Tom had been absent in several duties that needed to be done. Namely, anything that involved computers. Alex also had the sneaking suspicion people liked Tom as their boss more than him.

"I'm more concerned about Norman." his wife confessed. "I've always had to give Norman all the attention. He's used to it, he likes it."

"Norman's growing up." Alex said feeling slightly cranky. "He's not going to want to be your little boy for ever."

"Don't say something like that!" Norma snapped fiercely. She had finally settled herself back in bed and picked her book up. "Anyway, what's really bothering you?"

Alex shook his head.

"The well case." he admitted. "I can't help but think it feels… familiar."

"Another woman down a well?" Norma asked curiously.

"I checked." Alex said quickly. Tom checked to. "No other bodies were found in any disused wells in this county. No missing women from that time either."

Norma sighed.

"Her killer might have the same M.O. but dumped the bodies somewhere else. Maybe the well was done out of panic rather than planning."

Alex looked at her true crime book.

"Why don't you read a nice romance novel, Mrs. Romero?" he asked feeling playful. "You always read all these crime novels. Are you planning to kill me or something?"

"Maybe." she teased.

"Just make it quick so I don't suffer." he said feeling sleepy.

"We'll see, Sheriff." she told him.

~ Norman was in his room and waited until the final sounds of his parents bedroom door had closed. They always went to bed by the time 9 o'clock shone on his alarm clock and the house was still by 10.

He clutched tightly to the bedding and felt the anxiety rise up. He looked over at his clock and saw that it would soon be 10. Listening carefully, he heard the white noise machine from Ingrid's room and nothing at all from Dylan's.

His sister was always asleep when her noise machine was on, and Dylan never had trouble falling asleep.

It was fair to say Norman was the only one awake now. He quickly slipped out of bed and remade the covers. He was careful and nimble about how he stepped on the floor of his bedroom. This old house liked to squeak and make noises when he walked in certain places. He could always hear Ingrid and Dylan when they were upstairs and he was down. He had to assume his parents could hear the same thing.

He went to his closet and pulled out his laundry hamper. He wasn't like Dylan. He kept the floor of his closet neat and free of debris. His shoes neatly organized on a shelf and the his clothes sorted by color and seasonal need.

If he was caught, he wouldn't be able to explain himself. He wasn't sure he understood it himself, but the moment he made a bed pallet and lay down in the confined space of his closet, he felt better.

His real bed was more comfortable, that was true, but the feeling that he was safer here was something he couldn't ignore. If there was an intruder, they wouldn't find him in the bed. They would have to look past his laundry hamper in the closet. Buried in back and hidden by his hanging clothes.

Norman lay on his back and pressed his hands to touch the walls on either side. He couldn't stretch his arms out to touch the walls, the space was too limited. It felt nice to him. Like being in an egg.

' _Or a coffin._ ' he thought. He knew he must never say this out loud; not to anyone. They wouldn't understand and Mother would be upset. Still though, he liked the idea of being in a coffin. Of resting there and being buried under the ground where no one could touch you.

Dad had told him the lady from the well was buried in a pine box in another state. Norman had wanted to attend the funeral but Mother had said no. It made Norman happy to know the lady wasn't in that cold, wet well anymore. She was safe and warm in her box. She must be happy there he decided. Someone like Pastor Ed had said the right words to keep her sleeping so she wouldn't come back to life like they did in Dylan's comic books.

Norman rested his hands on his stomach the way he'd seen grandpa and Simon and Sybil in their coffins. Like they were sleeping. Pastor Ed had said they were at peace now and Norman knew that was true.

He imagined he was in his coffin. His coffin, where nothing bad would ever happen to him and where he would sleep and dream of beautiful things.

~ "The Bates' really don't have much of a case, Sheriff." Edward Pine the 3rd said in a lazy voice. "The child in question is almost eight years old and has lived consistently with his mother since birth without any major problems. Courts aren't apt to give over custody of a child just because he had an accident that resulted in no injury. If they did, no kid in the world would be with their natural parents."

Alex let out a deep breath and nodded. Sybil's lawyers had been practicing for generations and were very abrupt with their opinions.

"Good." he said. "The wrongful death suit?"

"That's trickier." Pine said doubtfully. "Just because you were cleared of any criminal liability, doesn't mean you won't be responsible for civil. It's why the county has insurance."

Alex felt that acid taste in his mouth well up again.

"We can argue you were cleared of any wrong doing and that Norma Bates was being attacked at the time of the shooting." Pine said. "But the fact is, you married the woman who's husband you shot and killed. That's something that will look suspicious. Like you planned it."

"Norma and I-" Alex started to say before Pine interrupted him.

"Look at this from a cop's perspective." the old lawyer said. "You have a shooting and a death. The person responsible for the sooting later becomes romantically involved with the widow of the victim. Wouldn't you be suspicious?"

"And if they win their civil lawsuit?" Alex asked. "What will happen?"

"Worse case scenario, they could claim you're an unfit parent to be around their grandson. They could demand custody again."

Alex sat up straiter and was glad he was alone in his office. Norma didn't need to hear this.

"But by then, Norman will be ten and can decide for himself whom he want's to live with." Pine said.

There was a knock on Alex's door and a female deputy came in flashing a shy and brilliant smile. Was it just his imagination, or did more female deputies keep finding an excuse to talk to him. It was never like this before he married Norma. Women generally wanted nothing to do with him.

He waved at her to come in and quickly told Pine thank you before hanging up.

"What is it, Whitman?" Alex asked as the deputy sat a file box down on a nearby side table.

"Sheriff, I brought those cold case files you asked for." Whitman said flashing her pretty smile again.

"I thought I asked Clarice to get them." Alex said feeling grumpy.

"I told her I didn't mind." Whitman said cheerfully. "It was my lunch break."

"Next time, let Clarice do the job I assigned to her." Alex told her bluntly. Whitman looked a little surprised. Clearly men always responded well to her. She was one of those women men couldn't help but be nice to with her slim figure, clear skin and generally helpful demeanor.

Still, Alex felt better about Clarice. His long time secretary wasn't at all interested in being nice to him or smiling at him. She only wanted to do her job, water the plants and was vocal about how much she missed Tom as Sheriff.

Alex knew she would never flirt with him and that she would be offended if he flirted with her. Clarice was safe. Not at all like Whitman.

"You're excused." Alex said coldly and refused to look at Whitman as she left. He didn't like the fact being a husband and father made him suddenly more attractive.

As soon as Whitman left, the door to his office snapping shut, Alex was on his feet and looking over the long dead cold cases.

These were the eerie murders that had never been solved. The ones he'd heard about as a boy from even before his father was Sheriff. The aged paper had a smell to it and the close blocky print of old typewrites made him feel slightly nostalgic as he read over crime scenes and pictures.

Then, he found it. His hands coming to rest on a case from 1965. The body of a woman was found in the bay. Naked and stabbed to death. Her remains so well preserved from the cold of the water and no one knew how long she had been down there.

It had been the scary story his father had told him when he was little. The same one Alex had told Dylan when warning him to be careful in the cold water. The true story that Alex couldn't shake.

The unnamed woman had been found by fishermen. She'd been stabbed more than a dozen times and her naked body wrapped in a clear plastic shower curtain. Just like the woman from the well.


	148. Chapter 148

148.

~ "How many?" Mayor George Heldens asked. His eyes growing wide in surprise.

"Three that I'm sure of." Alex said coldly. "And five more possible victims; all from the late fifties and early sixties. All women; none of them identified."

George leaned back in his chair.

"That time period…" Alex explained carefully. "It's not like now. People could disappear easily. Sometimes their families didn't even report them missing. They didn't exactly have a national database."

"You're sure that the killer lived here?" George asked in disgust.

"All the bodies were disposed of by someone with intimate knowledge of the area." Alex said. "Someone who could have maneuvered around the county without anyone noticing."

"This isn't good." George said grimly. His face becoming ashen.

"Murder is never good." Alex agreed.

"You know our newly elected council man, Lee Berman? He's been talking to investors." George said in irritation. "Trying to finally push through that bypass. Means a lot of money for a lot of people. Jobs, and tourism will go through the roof. We don't need some cold case murder scandal, Sheriff."

"I know." Alex said darkly. "But these women don't even have names. I've been combing through the missing persons reports and it's just too much. I think we need the FBI."

"On murders that may or may not be related?" George huffed. "No. Can you imagine the headlines? I'll be on CNN trying to explain that White Pine Bay is a safe family place with a quirky history of murder."

"I have contacts there." Alex said. "It will be quite."

"Nothing like this ever stays quite." George told him. "You really want the FBI coming down here? Asking you more questions about your well? Asking about your father?"

Alex winced slightly.

"I don't want to be cruel." George said and looked anxious. "This killer, who ever his was, is most likely long gone by now. It's been over forty years. Keep collecting evidence, but let's wait until the bypass is built before we do anything else."

"Those women-" Alex started to argue.

"Are long gone." George said bluntly. "White Pine Bay has been losing money since the lumber industry went bust. We need revenue, Alex. Not scandal."

~ Norma could hear Graceland whimpering behind the bathroom door. The retired police dog making pitiful scrapings for her to open the door.

"It's okay." Norma said softly to the dog before a wave of nausea hit her again. It seemed to bubble upwards like acid in her throat.

She heaved into the toilet again and vomited what little remained in her stomach. Norma had never had sickness like this in her life. Not even when she had the traditional morning sickness that accompanied her first two pregnancies. The vomiting had hit her early that morning and seemed to sap her of energy. Lilly was moving more than normal, but she didn't feel the same pain that would accompany labor.

Besides, it was still too early. Lilly wasn't due for another six weeks.

Graceland scratched at the door again and Norma leaned over to let the dog in. It gave the animal anxiety to not be around her these days. Graceland whimpered and affectionately licked Norma's face. Encouraging her to be happy.

"It's okay." Norma whispered again feeling her feet become uncomfortable when she tried to stand up.

She'd been in the bathroom throwing up for over an hour now and hadn't noticed the pin and needles feeling her feet had when she put weight on them. As though she was wearing shoes that were too tight when she was actually bare foot.

"Oh no." Norma sighed weakly looking at the bright red skin of her feet and ankles. They had swelled up; stretching the skin to a bright shine.

"Norman?" Norma called and wrapped her arms around Graceland. The dog steading her and protecting her from the little boy who raced into her bathroom as soon as he was called.

"Mom." Norman complained. "It stinks in here."

"Honey." Norma said feeling her words become difficult. "I need you to get me… the phone. The one from the kitchen."

"Are you sick?" Norman asked perplexed.

"Just get me the phone." Norma said calmly. She could feel a sharp pain and another wave of nausea creeping up.

Norman looked like he wanted to argue again but ran to the kitchen. He came back quickly with the portable phone. His hands clutching to his chest like he did lately when he was worried.

"Were are Dylan and Ingrid?" she asked feeling the baby pull and turn inside her. It was like some sort of monster wanting to break free. A pain she'd never felt before with the boys.

"Dad… took them to Tom's. To clean out the chicken coop." Norman said.

Norma nodded. The long series of chores Alex had settled on for Ingrid and Dylan for Norman falling in the well. Alex and Norma knew it had been an accident and they had never intended for such a horrible thing to happen. Still, everyone felt better about the situation, including the children, if some sort of amends were made.

Dylan and Ingrid had spent almost every day after school at Tom and Tess' house. Doing some odd chore as a thank you for helping the family.

"Okay." Norma said. "I want you to run down to the drive and open the front gate."

Her words were slow and deliberate.

"Norman." she said sternly. An awful a stabbing pain hitting her hard. "An ambulance is going to come. One of your dad's friends… with the lights on the truck. You're going to bring them in here. Into the bathroom, and they'll take me to the hospital. Then I'm going to have the baby."

"Okay." Norman said looking uneasily at his mother who was sweating and having difficulty speaking.

Norma nodded for him to go and her son rushed out. As soon as the front door opened, she called 911.

~ "Sheriff?" Clarice opened Alex's office for without knocking.

Alex jumped and closed the file he was looking over as if he'd been caught reading a dirty magazine. In a way, the subject matter was vile and obscene. The black and white photography creating a sharp contrast of shadows and light making the murdered women look almost artistic.

The bruising on their faces, the stab wounds on their bodies all looked unreal and very far away from the present. Women who'd been murdered and thrown away, only to be forgotten with time.

"What is it?" he demanded of the department's long term office worker.

"White just radioed in. An ambulance was sent to your house." Clarice said.

Alex stood up and grabbed his coat. It was too soon for Norma to have the baby. Dylan and Ingrid were with Tom doing all the crap work around their place. Did Norman have another accident?

"How long ago?" Alex demanded.

"As soon as he called in, I came to tell you." Clarice said quickly moving alongside Alex.

"Do me a favor." Alex said. "Call Tom and ask him to keep the kids a little longer."

Clarice nodded.

"Good luck." she said

~ Norma didn't remember anything after she called 911 and told the dispatcher she was in premature labor and couldn't move. She felt her water break and the rush of warm fluid seep into her clothes. Her last thoughts were fear she might lose the baby or even die herself.

Graceland was refusing to leave her side. The dog becoming panicked at how she crumpled over and wouldn't move.

' _She's a police dog._ ' she reminded herself. ' _She might attack the paramedics when they get here. She's just trying to protect me._ '

Norma was more concerned with the dog and held onto her collar as if holding her back. Graceland, unsure of what to do, whimpered pitifully and laid down next to her.

~ Maybe it had all been a dream; but Norma felt sure she was drowning. She could feel her entire body become heavy and pulled down into a dark place. She felt cold and her finger tips prickled. She could feel the dark waters engulf her. She finally understood what was happening and opened her eyes. Her world a pleasing palate of dark blues and pinks.

Pink flowers covering ink blue waters. She felt that every inch of her was floating and how weightless and buoyant her body as. Even as her feet touched land and she recognized the farm in washed out hues of blues, she still felt submerged in some kind of water.

She looked around and could see that the trees weren't green, but blue. The sky was a gray blue and there were pink roses and flowers blooming everywhere.

Her body felt light and comfortable as she stepped gracefully and spotted a little red haired boy playing in the grass. Grass that was a lush baby blue.

"Hello?" she asked and the child turned around. His small face and head wasn't a good fit for the large glasses he wore.

"Hi." the little boy said meekly. "You're my brother's friend."

"Your brother?" Norma questioned.

"Eddie." the little boy said and stood up, brushing the grass off his knees and clothes.

"You're Cody." Norma smiled with unexpected clarity. She'd never seen a picture of Ed's long lost brother who died when he was a child. A victim of horrible abused done by their father.

Cody nodded and took Norma's hand. He seemed a shy little creature. The type that always wanted and needed a little extra attention from mother's and teachers.

Norma gladly laced her hand in his and they walked together to the house.

"I'm glad you're going to stay with me." Cody said. His voice was sad. As if he'd been alone all this time.  
"I'm glad to." Norma admitted with a smile. She **was** glad. Glad she wasn't in pain and glad that she could make Cody happy. She could be happy here. Her and Cody could live forever in the farm house. She could spend eternity taking good care of him. Making hime nice things to eat and tucking him in at night.

She spotted another child playing by the farm house. He looked like he was playing with a toy log cabin or building blocks. She recognized the sandy haired little boy instantly.  
"Dylan?" she called. The boy, big for his age turned and Norma saw that it wasn't her oldest son at all. Her son never had such a dirty face and worn, filthy clothes. Her son had always had a softer, more angelic face and appearance.

"Caleb?" Norma breathed in surprise at seeing her brother in child form again. He looked just as he did when he was ten. When Norma remembered him best. When he'd been her hero. Someone who was smart and who protected her. Nothing at all like the adult he would become.

She didn't feel anything more than affection for Caleb just now. He seemed perfectly innocent and wonderful.  
"What are you doing?" she asked as Cody pulled on her arm in a lazy bid for her attention.

"Building a house for Dylan." Caleb said putting the finishing touches to his cabin. "I want to make a nice house for him."

Norma nodded, but didn't truly understand.

Cody was pulling on her again. He was so much like Norman. So desperate for her affection that he couldn't stand for another person to take her away from him.

"Alright." Norma laughed and allowed Cody to pull her inside.

Her house was just the same as she'd left it and it seemed as if she and Cody lived there for a long time.

She felt and saw Ellie and Simon running across the lawn as she and Cody baked pies together. She could hear Alex's mother Theresa sewing on an old sewing machine. The woman never talked to her or to anyone else. She was always dressed in yellow and always had her back turned to them.

It was strange how time worked here. How a day could feel like a lifetime. Many lifetimes in fact, and Norma never worried about her other children or Alex.

Wherever they were, she knew they were okay. Besides, Cody had waited for her a long time, and Caleb was forever building his little house for Dylan. They had all day to play together and it seemed the day would never end.

"I need to get back." Norma suddenly said as a game of hide and seek with Cody came to an abrupt end.

"Why?" Cody asked in alarm. "You're supposed to stay."

His little voice was small and wilting. Needing her to stay with him and be his mother.

Norma could feel her body, and it felt heavy. As if she was no longer light as air.

"I have… I think I have a baby." she said not certain if that was right or not. "Alex… and the children."

"Just stay with me." Cody pleaded.

Norma looked down at the little boy and smiled. All memories of her former life forgotten.

"Okay." she said.

~ "Preeclampsia." Doctor Bloch explained to Alex in the waiting room. Norman was sitting at the back of the waiting room. His expression tense and his eyes wide. He'd cried softly off and on ever since Alex arrived. The trauma of seeing his mother helpless and being carried away by paramedics was too much for him. He'd barely spoken and had started shaking.

Norma always knew what to do for him in these cases but she was still in surgery.

"What does that mean?" Alex asked the doctor who'd treated his wife during her entire pregnancy.

"It's very serious, Sheriff." Doctor Bloch explained calmly. "We had to perform an emergency cesarian and take the bay."

"Take the baby?" Alex asked feeling his head start to hurt. All the nurses that passed by their solitary waiting room only glanced at them and quickly looked away. Like people who slow down to look at a horrible car accident.  
"Remove the baby by surgery." Bloch specified. "Your daughter is doing well, but she's in the NICU. Norma had a seizure during the procedure and we have to keep her sedated."

"When can I see her? When will she wake up?" Alex asked. Apart of him still not understanding what was happening.

"Maybe you should take the boy home, Sheriff." Bloch said. "There's nothing you can do here."

Alex wanted to argue but Bloch turned and left them.

"Is… is mom going to be okay?" Norman asked in a trembling voice. His eyes, the same color blue as his mother's, were bright with tears.

"She's going to be fine." Alex said.

"She was sick." Norman said as soon as Alex sat down next to him. "She was sick at the house. She threw up."

"I know." Alex said. Unsure of what to say to him.

"Graceland was barking." Norman said. "Graceland was barking and mom wouldn't wake up."

"She's going to be okay." Alex said placing an arm around Norman. Their youngest son wasn't fond of being touched. He always pulled away whenever Alex tired to hug him or even got too close.

This time was different. Norman leaned into him, buried his face in Alex's chest, and started to cry.

 **Sorry it had been so long since my last update.**


	149. Chapter 149

149.

~ What would Alex do without Norma? If she died and left him, all of them, alone and defenseless?

It was hard to picture his life without her. Impossible even.

Norma had come into his world like a violent storm. Turning everything upside-down until he barely recognized the man he'd been. Just a few years ago, he was a lonely bachelor with few friends and no prospects to ever have a family. He hadn't planned on, or even wished for the life he had now.

Then, as if by magic, he had a wife and a family. A family who loved him and needed him. It had all been such a gift, and now it was falling apart.

What would he do if Norma died? How would he take care of the kids? How would he care for a newborn? Lilly looked so small and fragile in the incubator, and Norma was pale and needed a breathing tube. Mother and daughter looked so breakable. As if they would shatter at any second.

What if he lost both of them? When if Norma and Lilly left him? What would he tell Norman? Ingrid and Dylan could go on, but Norman defined his entire existence on his mother's love.

"Alex." a familiar voice called to him. He didn't bother to look up when Tom Wilson took an empty seat next to him.

"Hello, Tom." Alex asked dryly.

"Tess has the little ones." Tom explained sitting down next to his former deputy. "Told me to come and check on you. So here I am."

"I'm fine." Alex said automatically. He knew he didn't look fine. He knew he hadn't showered or shaved in two days and looked it.

"Doctor Bloch has encouraged me to call Ed. We should get the baby baptized. Norma would want that. She trusted Ed Warren to do the boys." Tom said. That gentle touch was in the older man's voice. That much needed father figure coming out and tactfully reminding Romero of what needed to be done.

Alex shook his head. He didn't want to think about that. Didn't want to think about what it meant for Ed Warren to come and baptize Lilly. Just in case.

"I've never seen Norman cry so much." Alex admitted wanting to change the subject.

The silence between them seemed to stretch out forever.

"I'm sorry." Tom said. "I'm sorry this is happening to you."

"It's nothing more than what I deserve." Alex said darkly.

"What do you mean?"

Alex sighed. He could feel that old, familiar self hate boiling up inside him. That wall around him that always sprang up when he felt particularly helpless. It had been his constant friend growing up. That cool detachment and distrust of people.

"This is a punishment." he said with a shrug. "For the life I've lead. The things of done. People I've hurt. Killed."

Tom was silent.

"I deserve to have my wife and child taken from me. I haven't been a good man. I've always done whatever I had to, to get whatever I wanted. I wanted Norma, so I shot and killed her husband when he was unarmed and too drunk to stop me. I did that because he hurt her and because I could. I even helped Maggie Summers dump her brother's body when she killed him. All because he'd threatened Norma once. I even threatened to kill Rebecca after she took Norman. I'm not a good man. I don't deserve a good wife or a family. I stole them. I stole them from someone who actually deserves them. Ed would have been a better husband. If he'd been her husband… maybe she wouldn't be in this situation."

"Alex." Tom said calmly.

"I even wanted her to stop being friends with Ed." Alex said with a dry laugh. "I hated the idea of another man in her life. I wanted her all to myself. It's exactly what the Old Bear would have done. Exactly what he **did** do. I'm more like my father than I ever wanted to be. I deserve what's happening now."

"That's not true." Tom said.

"Really?" Alex said with that hateful fire burning deep inside him. He looked over Tom Wilson.  
"We do bad things all the time and we justify them. We do bad things for what we feel is a just cause. What if… we did something that can never be forgiven? No matter how we justify it? It can't be forgiven. It's why we're destined to live like this. To lose what we love most."

"Norma isn't lost and neither are you." Tom said calmly.

Alex shook his head.

"No." he said. "My daughter won't make it either. She looked…"

"Let's go in and see her together." Tom said with authority. "She'll need her father with her when Ed shows up. Then, we can go see Norma and tell her about it. Nothing keeps that woman down for long you know that."

Alex didn't wan't to go. He didn't want to do anything more than feel sorry for himself.

"Come on, Alex." Tom said slapping a heavy hand on Alex's shoulder. "Your wife and daughter need you. It's time to stop feeling sorry for yourself."

~ Norma could feel her body pulled roughly into another world. It was as if she were a fish being reeled in against her will. Her world fading away and replaced by sharp discomfort and sensations too harsh to understand.

Someone was muttering over her and a cool finger was pressing onto her forehead.

She could sense by it's rhythms and deliberate speech, it was a prayer being said. That someone was making the sign of the cross on her forehead.

Her stomach hurt and her feet felt sore and cold.

She could feel a firm hand on her head and annoyance rose up inside her.

' _Stop petting me like a dog!_ ' she thought as the prayer went on.

She knew she let out a grumble and felt a strong hand that had very warm skin take hers.

"Norma?" she heard a voice ask.

She felt empty inside. As if she'd been cleaned out.  
"Norma." another voice called.

"Stop." she ordered in a voice that made her throat hurt.  
"Norma, open your eyes." the second voice told her.  
"They are open." she said. She seemed to be able to see the room she was in. See the two figures beside her. Everything was dark shades with pinpricks of light.

"No, your eyes are close." said the first voice. The owner of the warm hands that were lacing her fingers with his. "Open your eyes."

"Okay." she said and willed herself to open them.

"They're still closed." the second voice said after a time.

"Okay." Norma sighed. She was too tired to care. Her body felt incredibly heavy and she wanted everyone to stop talking.

"Norma." the first voice said. "Lilly is fine. She's in the NICU."

"Okay." Norma said as she began falling back underwater.

"She's going to be fine, Norma." the second voice said. His voice familiar and almost pleading. "Do you want to wake up so you can see her?"

"I am awake." she told them before going under into blackness.

~ She dreamed she was trying to get the kids ready for some trip. That everyone was going to a different place and there were endless bags to pack.

"Why can't we all stay here? Why do we have to leave?" she suddenly cried out as the suitcases started to reach the ceiling and the kids were crying they would be late.

She heard a baby crying from somewhere and realized that she must have packed an infant in one of the suitcases. She was pulling down the now towering suitcases, looking for the lost baby all while it's cries were growing more insistent.

Her world was an endless maze of suitcases that were as tall as skyscrapers, and still she couldn't find the missing child.

~ Hunger and thirst woke Norma Romero up at last. Her eyes felt heavy and she was worn out from sleeping so much. It had been the kind of horrible sleep that had left her feeling more exhausted than rested.

Her hospital room was dark and quite. She noticed she was alone except for a tall man with silver hair. He'd fallen asleep in a chair next to her bed.  
"I… I'm… hungry." Norma announced feebly and Tom Wilson snorted awake and looked pleased to see her.  
"Well, look who woke up." he said with a pleased little smile.

Norma felt tired and drugged. A persistent hunger scratched at her.

"I… want toast." she said with difficulty. She felt sedated. Her speech seeming to take time to connect and it was like she had to push the words out with more effort than normal. If she never spoke again, that might be easier.

"Alright." Tom said pushing her call button for the nurse. She wanted water too but she was too tired to ask.

"Alex is back at the farm." Tom said leaning close to her and smiling. "Went to get a shower and some sleep. The kids are at my place with Tess. Lilly is in the NICU and she's off the breathing tubes and doing very well."

"Lilly." Norma said still feeling like words were like strange things to her.

The nurse came in and Tom smiled at her.

"She's awake again. Want's some toast." Tom ordered.

"I'll get the doctor." the nurse nodded eagerly.

Norma could feel herself wanting to fall asleep.

"Lilly." she said for want of another word. She couldn't think of other words.  
"Your daughter was born a little early, but Bloch said she's doing fine." Tom said gently.

Norma's hand went to her abdomen. She'd been pregnant, and now she wasn't anymore.

"She's… here?" Norma asked.

Tom nodded.

"Wasn't exactly as we planned, but you both did really good. Tess and I are proud of you." Tom said with a kind smile. "You need to tell Alex that you're going to be okay. He's just a mess right now without you."

Norma nodded but wanted desperately to fall asleep again.  
"You're… proud of me?" she asked carefully. The words coming a little easier but she still didn't want to talk. She couldn't remember a father like figure ever telling her he was proud of her. Her own father never had.  
Tom smiled softly.

"I want you to stay awake long enough to eat and let the doctor examine you." he told her gently. "I'll go if you need me to."

Norma shook her head. She was too tired to talk.

~ Tom decided not to tell Alex his wife was awake until Norma was feeling more herself. Until she could keep down her food, move on her own a little and string together a sentence. Her words sounded funny. As though she had spoken another language all this time.

Doctor Bloch assured them the speech difficulty was from the seizure and wasn't a stroke.

"Her medication has kept her sedated so we can monitor her." Bloch added. "It's normal."

"Alex has been worried sick." the former sheriff explained to Norma after she finished eating dry toast and drank some orange juice "He's so good at blaming himself. Ed's been spending time with him."

"I dreamed-" Norma started to say but shut her mouth quickly. She couldn't think of how to describe it. Words were failing her constantly so she just kept quite.

"Strange things." she said lamely.

"Pain medication will do that." Tom told her.

"I want to see Lilly." Norma said at last. She'd always seen her children as soon as they were born and it seemed monstrously unfair that she was denied access to her daughter.

"Okay." Tom said lazily. Not at all impressed with her demands. "Let me get you a wheelchair."

With help form the nurses, they managed to get Norma out of the bed. She could feel a painful tightness in her skin where the doctor had cut her. A very rough patch of stitches were there, and her body was sore and hating all this movement.

"She's okay?" Norma whispered to Tom once the Silver Fox was pushing her slowly to the elevators.

"She's tiny." Tom admitted. "But she'll grow." He added confidently.

~ Lilly was the only baby in the NICU and Norma didn't think she was too small. Her face was reddish and crumpled in annoyance. Most likely because she was made to wear a bright pink hat on her head. She was swaddled neatly in a soft baby blanket and only her grumpy looking face and a few fingers were visible.

"She looks like Alex." Norma let out a laugh that made her stitches hurt.

"What an awful thing to say." Tom teased with a smile.

Norma leaned closer to the incubator to see her new daughter. She could see the baby flex her tiny little fingers, but Alex's annoyed grumpy face was there in miniature.

"She's beautiful." Norma smiled.

"I'll leave you two alone." Tom said. "I'll call Tess. Give her the news you're up. She'll tell the kids. They've been staying with us. We'll let Alex sleep awhile longer. He was running on fumes. Ed came by to baptize her a few days ago. There was a while there we thought you wouldn't make it. Ed performed last rights and you started to wake up. Everyone's going to be happy you're out of the woods now."

Norma nodded but didn't register what he was saying. She waited until the former sheriff left them alone.

"I'm glad I woke up for you." she whispered to her daughter who's face softened at her mother's words.


	150. Chapter 150

150.

~ "Your mother is awake. She and your baby sister are going to be fine." Tess said with a kind of false brightness that made Ingrid suspicious.

"Can we go see her?" Ingrid asked looking over Tess' face for any crack in the facade.

"No." Tess Wilson said cooly. She was trained as a school teacher after all and could easily out maneuver anyone. Even Ingrid.

"No, your mother needs to rest. She still had major surgery with the delivery and she and your father need this time alone to bond with the baby." Tess told them logically. "When they get home, and are settled, then you can see them. I told Tom to have her call you though. I'm sure she misses all of you."

~ "Do you really think Mom's okay?" Norman asked Ingrid once the three siblings were back in the cramped little guest room they were all made to share.

"Tess wouldn't lie about that." Ingrid said dryly. "We'd eventually find out the truth if she did."

"Mom was really sick." Norman reminded her. The memory of him coming into that bathroom when the paramedics arrived would always make him feel strange. The way she wasn't moving and how she looked so pale. Those big men in the house had forced Graceland out and were touching his mother. It all felt very invasive to him.

"It's because she was in labor. It made her look sick." Ingrid told him. "Haven't you ever seen a movie where a woman has a baby? It's like that."

"Why are they keeping her for so long?" Dylan asked. "I mean, if she's okay now, why can't they let her come home with Lilly? Besides, women have babies all the time. It's not a big deal."

Ingrid gave her brother a dirty look, but had a logical explanation for this to.

"Dad's the Sheriff." she said simply. "They want to make sure the Sheriff's wife gets the best medical care. She probably has one of the fancy hospital rooms. Dad's insurance is really good. Remember when you stepped on that rusty nail? We were able to go to the doctor and mom didn't have to worry about paying for it. Other families worry about paying to see the doctor."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Dylan agreed.

Norman nodded, but didn't agree.

"What would we do if mom died?" he asked. It had been a worry that had plagued him and he wasn't sure if he believed Tess when she told them their mother was going to be fine.

Ingrid shrugged.

"I guess we'd take care of dad and Lilly." she reasoned.

"Mom's never sick." Dylan chimed in helpfully. "I bet it's just our insurance. Like Ing said."

Norman wasn't entirely convinced. A horrible image was in his head now. One of his mother in a blue dress and laid out in a coffin like Simon and Sybil had been. Her eyes were closed as if she was sleeping and put into the ground that was too cold and lonely.

Norman felt that sicking strangeness well up in him again. As if he wanted to leave his body and float away.

~ Tom had helped Norma to bed the way a parent would a child. Tucking her in and telling her to get some rest; that he would call Alex and not to worry.

It had made her feel safe and looked after. She liked this feeling and craved more. The feeling of a parent taking care of her. She couldn't remember when her own mother had tucked her into bed like this. When she'd been sick and had to stay home, she always had to fend for herself. Always had to pull herself out of bed and look for food in the cabinets and refrigerator. She remembered being sick and not knowing what to do except take Tylenol like the commercials said.

Her mother didn't seem to take much of an interest in her, or in Caleb. It was almost as if they weren't children at all, but neglected pets who had been cute and fun in the beginning; but were now a burden and needed too much work.

How different her life would have been if Tom and Tess had been her parents. If she'd been brought up under the steady and predicable discipline of Tom Wilson, would she have rebelled at all? Her greatest rebellion against her parents was becoming a stable person and a good mother. Divorcing herself as much as possible from the lives they had led. No one would ever suspect she was the daughter of that dirty Calhoun family.

When she woke up again, a nurse was pestering her to take a shower and change clothes.

Her body felt stiff and painful. Like she'd done and intense workout and her muscles were aching. She gasped slightly when she saw the ugly red cesarian scar on her stomach. The surgeon who'd delivered Lilly had cut her below the stomach, but hadn't been keen on making a small incision. The wound was stitched up like a horrible smily face. The skin still red and stained from the delivery.

Norma knew there would defiantly be a scar. A massive scar that she would always notice and that Alex would notice to. Whoever did the stitches hadn't had much enthusiasm for it either. Her skin seemed to hang like ill fitting clothing now.

When she'd delivered Dylan and Norman, there were no complications at all. She left the hospital in less than a day after her respective babies were born. A lot of it, she knew, was because there was no insurance on file and they were always quick to get rid of people like her.

Now, things were different. Her hospital room had flowers and gifts laid out for her and Lilly. Cards from people she'd never heard of, were waiting for her to open congratulating her on Lilly's birth.

Norma quickly slipped on a clean hospital gown and was glad she could go to the bathroom without any pain. She made sure to check her urine for blood, but it was fine and everything seemed like normal. Not caring how she looked, Norma emerged from her depressing hospital bathroom to see Alex waiting for her.

"Hi!" she said in sudden amusement.

It never ceased to amaze her how lucky she was to be married to him. He looked so handsome just now it nearly took her breath away. Although he clearly needed to shave. She'd never liked the facial hair that grew faster on him than on most men.

"Hi." he said softly with a knowing smile.

"Have you been to see Lilly?" she whispered. The baby was upstairs in the NICU but they kept their voices down as if she were in the room.

"Yeah, I saw her." he told her with a smile. "She looked really good."

Norma nodded slightly and winced when she sat down.

"I brought you and Lilly… something." Alex said uncomfortably and pointed to a nice teddy bear on Norma's bedside table. There was a small vase of flowers next to it.

She smiled and said nothing about the massive stuffed bear the florist had delivered that morning. A present from the men and women at the Sheriff's office, the bear was so large, it had to be carried in my two orderlies.

"The card said ' _Congratulations on the new cub_ '." Alex said with some annoyance. "I don't think the whole 'little bear' thing is ever going to get old."

"Well, not now it's not." Norma said smartly.

It seemed like they were strangers on an awkward first date. Neither of them knowing exactly what to saw at the moment, so the silence seemed to grow heavy.

"I think I'll give him to Norman." she said at last and nodded to the big bear. "He was so brave… when the paramedics came."

"I'm sorry." Alex said in a hushed tone. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Norma asked feeling her voice crack a little. She knew exactly what he was sorry for, but there was nothing he could have done to change things.

"I should have been there." he said. "I… I should have known you weren't feeling well. I've been so wrapped up at work-"

"It's not your fault, Alex." she said soberly. "I didn't even know until… It's not your fault."

Her words didn't seem to ease hurt look on his face.  
"What matters now is that Lilly is here and she's healthy. She's going to be out of NICU in a few days." Norma said with a false brightness that didn't shine very far.

Alex was still casting his eyes away from her.

"We have a baby, Sheriff." she said.

This made him smile a little.

"We have a beautiful, grumpy little baby." she added. "And everything's going to be good. You'll see."

~ "It's a standard test we perform on all newborns. Reflexes, pupil dilation and so on. " Bloch was explaining the next afternoon. "We do them every day and judge any change. Lilly was born a little early, so these tests aren't conclusive. We don't want to set anything in stone until she's had a chance to… we'll need to run more tests. None of them hurt her, but we did find some cause for concern. I don't want to make a decision on anything just yet because she was born prematurely, but this isn't something we should ignore until she's older."

Alex could feel in irritation rise up against the old doctor. Why couldn't he just get to the point? Why did he make everything a long winded narrative? It wasn't a story where he was getting paid by the word.

"Test her for what?" Alex said with a barely restrained annoyance.

Doctor Bloch refused to meet Alex or Norma in the eye. He took his time about answering to. As if he didn't want to say it out loud.

"Lilly failed the auditory brainstem response screening. It's a scan that checks her hearing and her brain's response to noise. Most babies pass, but a few fail. Doesn't mean they are hearing impaired. It simply means…" Bloch took a breath. "It means we'll have to keep testing."

"Lilly's deaf?" Norma breathed. Her eyes growing wide.  
"We don't want to assume that." Bloch said carefully. "And the term is hearing impaired."

"What…" Norma looked like she was going to pass out. "What caused it?"

"If she is hearing impaired, it had nothing at all to do with the birth." Bloch said quickly absolving the problem from any medical mistake. "Lilly didn't suffer any trauma from delivery. Most cases are because of a genetic anomaly. There is new research that shows it's a recessive gene."

"When will we know for sure?" Alex asked calmly.  
"Because she was born early, there may not be cause for alarm just yet. We will know in a few weeks." Bloch said hesitantly.

"Weeks?" Norma practically barked.

"Like I said, more testing is needed." Bloch told them.

~ Lilly looked up at her mother curiously and Norma wondered if she actually could hear her voice.

The baby was responsive to light and touch. She still had Alex's grumpy look; especially when Norma put a homemade hat on her with two bear ears and a pink bow on top.

Alex had rolled his eyes at the time she made it, but it suited the baby well. She looked like Alex Romero's daughter. Her expression one of general annoyance with everyone; although she seemed to like Norma. Her eyes fluttering open long enough to peer at her mother, before closing under impossibly long dark eyelashes.

"Ugh." Norma said in pretend disgust. "She looks so much like you."

She grinned at Alex who hid a smirk.

"Hopefully she'll grow out of it." he said and inspected Lilly's tiny fingernails with fascination.

Lilly's grip on her father's index finger was fierce. The baby feeling right at home with both her parents attention.

Lilly hiccuped and her face lost the angry scowl. Her expression smoothing out as she went to sleep.

"What if she's really… I mean, what if she can't hear?" Norma asked.

"We will… manage." Alex said with the same careful tone Dr. Bloch used.

"What if she never hears? How will she go to school?" Norma said feeling a rush of panic.

"Ingrid will teach us sign language." Alex told her, no doubt hoping she would smile.

"Don't joke." Norma warned him.

Alex nodded.

"We have some time before we have to really worry about it." he told her. "I know they can do some surgeries…"

Norma shook her head and looked away. She'd never had a baby that wasn't perfect before. It was a new feeling. Dylan and Norman had both been so healthy. So normal that she'd been sure Lilly would be the same. She's wanted a little girl her entire life, and Alex deserved a healthy baby. Now with the nightmarish delivery and the chance their daughter might never hear, it was all too much at once.

For all their worries, Lilly seemed to sense none of it. Her face was still soft and dreaming only of being warm and safe between two people that loved her.


	151. Chapter 151

151.

~ Norman felt strange. He'd been feeling strange ever since he saw his mother so sick in the bathroom. Graceland had been guarding her and there was a funny smell in the air. Like something that was warm and sick and couldn't find it's way out.

He was sure everyone was lying to him about his mother being not being dead. No one, not even Ingrid or Dylan would talk to him about it. They only seemed to talk to themselves or to the grown ups.

What if Norman had died to? What if he was dead and lost in some sort of abyss? What if he and his mother died together and they couldn't find each other? No one ever spoke to him and it always felt like he was trying to leave his body behind. It would be so easy sometimes. This lightheaded feeling was always washing over him; he felt like it went all the way to his feet sometimes.

"Norman?"

"Norman, wake up!"

"Norman stop making that face. Dylan, why is he making that face?"

"Norman, we're here for you."

"NORMAN!"

Norman jerked awake from wherever he was and saw Ingrid looking at him. Her large intelligent eyes peering over him and her face pulling into a frown of disgust, just like mother's would do.

"Where did you go just now?" Ingrid demanded and Norman saw Dylan was with her. His expression concerned but not as annoyed as Ingrid's.

Norman let out a breath. His chest feeling uncomfortably tight now that he was breathing again.

"Why didn't you tell me mother died?" Norman said weakly.

Ingrid let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. She was always so annoyed with the little things.

"She didn't die, Norman." Dylan said calmly. "She's just in the hospital. Like we told you."

Norman shook his head.

"What's going to happen to us now that she's dead?" he asked.

"Look, I'll call dad and he'll have us visit her and Lilly. We'll prove to you that mom's alive." Dylan said helpfully.

Norman shook his head.

Again with Lilly. He cared nothing at all for this strange entity known only as Lilly. Already this unknown creature had morphed his mother's body and caused disaster in the house. His parents talked about nothing but this 'Lilly' creature. He knew that it was a baby. A harmless baby who was a girl and who would grow up to be his sister. Although hopefully not like Ingrid; more like mother and dad together.

He'd never given Lilly much thought until mother got so sick and was taken away from him. Now, he despised Lilly. He hated her for all that she'd done to mother. What if she was the reason mother was dead and never coming back?

~ Alex decided to go back to work now that Norma and Lilly were out of danger. Work was a distraction that he needed just now. It felt different to be back in his office now that Lilly was officially here.

There were spontaneous and annoying ' _congratulations_ ' from various deputies and inquiries about the baby's health and when she would be home.

Soon, Clarice reached the end of her tether and started filtering all his calls and bluntly telling people not to disturb the Sheriff. Clarice, like Alex liked things to remain calm at work.

Alex said nothing about the second hearing test Lilly had failed. Doctor Bloch was still optimistic it was just because she was born early and that her hearing would come. That there was no need for concern yet. It was something he and Norma didn't want to say out loud anymore. The idea that Lilly might be hearing impaired and need a special school and special care was frightening. Frightening in a different way than Norman's needs had always been. For a girl to be disabled like this, it made her more vulnerable to someone hurting her. He'd read enough cases to recognize a pattern of victims. It was easy to prey on the disabled. Girls and women who couldn't speak, see or hear. How could he protect her from a ll the dangers that were lurking just outside?

Alex jumped when his phone gave a loud, intrusive ring.

"Romero." he said grumpily into the receiver.

"I've got Babcock on line one." Clarice said sourly. "He said it's regarding the cold case. The well? I told him to send you an email and that you're very busy."

"No, I was waiting for his call." Alex said quickly. "Can you put him through?"

He heard Clarice grumble a little and the line beep.

"Hey! Congratulations on the baby, Sherif." a strange voice on the other end of the line called out cheerfully. "I got back those lab reports you sent out. The shower curtains?"

In all the confusion of Lily birth, Alex had almost forgotten that he'd had Babcock send off the old evidence files of shower curtains the murdered women had been found in. Including to woman from the well Norman had discovered.

"Right." Alex said. Remembering he'd done this before meeting with Mayor Heldens and now he had no support to proceed.

"Seems they were the kind of large stock item sold by a wholesales catalog since the 50's." Babcock went on.

"That's good." Alex said agreeing that it meet the correct timeline. "What, for like a retail store?"

"Oh no. They sold these kinds of shower curtains to hospitals and hotels. They were the kind of thing that were cheap to replace if they were damaged or soiled. Guess that's why hospital's liked them." Babcock said.

"White Pine Bay didn't have its own hospital until the mid 80's." Alex said. "Everyone went to Emerson or to Portland."

"Yeah and we didn't have a decent motel until then to. The Red Knight. Not that I'd ever go there. Not with Jenny at home." Babcock went on. "But I seem to remember how we had a few bed and breakfasts. Back when people took family vacations here. I think they're all shut down now. Not enough business or something. That means they could have come from Portland or even Seattle."

"Mom and Pop motels." Alex said darkly. He could only think of one small motel in the area that had been around during the time of the murders.

"Need anything else, Sheriff?" Babcock was asking.

"No." Alex said. "Like you said, they could have come from anywhere."

~ "When is she getting out of here?" Ed said in a low whisper. Norma smiled softly at the sight of Ed Warren dressed in a yellow paper gown and holding Lilly as though she were the most delicate thing on earth.

"You're not going to wake her up." she said dully. "Doctor Bloch said she failed her second hearing test. It's where they check to see if the brain is responsive to sound."

"It's still early." Ed said with all the authority Alex had when they heard the news that morning. "You can't know for sure yet."

"I know." Norma said softly.

She let out a sigh.

"It's just… it's not fair." she admitted sadly.

"What isn't?" Ed asked. "A beautiful healthy baby isn't fair?"

"With Dylan and Norman… it was so easy. It was like I could have done it all day. It's not fair that we had so many complications with Lilly. I mean… she was **wanted**. You know? Dylan and Norman were always treated like an inconvenience when I was pregnant with them and they were born. Now, I have a good husband, a good life. It's not fair that I couldn't give Alex a healthy baby." she admitted. These were thoughts that had been circling around her brain for a while now. She couldn't admit them to Alex because she thought he would tell her she was being silly.

"It's normal to feel this way." Ed said after a while. "I mean, you almost died. She almost died." he nodded to Lilly who was sleeping peacefully. Her little face smooth with the untroubled sleep of the innocent.

"What if she really is deaf?" Norma asked. "What if… I mean, this is serious."

She could feel herself shaking with the overwhelming fear of it all.

"We've never had to deal with something like this." she admitted.

"You deal with Norman's issues. Alex handles them very well." Ed pointed out.

"Norman… his autism… you know it's not the same thing." Norma said sadly.

"I know this feels awful. You want to fix everything and you can't fix this. Lilly is very lucky she has you and Alex for parents. You two would do anything for her." Ed told her. He stood a little straiter. "But what's the worse case scenario for this? Lilly can't hear? Maybe she'll need a surgery that will correct her hearing. Maybe she'll go to a special school to learn and then be a heathy, functional adult. It's not like she'll need round the clock care."

Norma sighed.

"I hate it when you put things into perspective like this." she said sourly.

"Sorry I won't let you wallow in self pity." Ed smiled. He gazed affectionally at Lilly who slept on. "She is beautiful though."  
"She looks like Alex." Norma said dully but managed to smile.

Ed winced playfully.

"She's still a beauty." he smiled.

~ "Hi, Maggie." Alex said when Maggie Summers appeared at the door.

Her little house on the corner lot was showing signs of wear from the elements, but it looked cozy enough even with the faded paint and horrible lawn gnomes.

"Alex." Maggie said. Her face lighting up in surprise. "I wasn't expecting… shouldn't you be at home with Norma and the new baby?"

Alex didn't say anything at first but allowed Maggie to wave him inside and out of the rain.  
"I need to talk to you." he admitted. "About your family and the motel on the old highway."

"What about it?" she asked "You know that we lost the whole place a few years ago. It's being run by some guy who doesn't even live here."

Alex smelled that familiar smell Maggie's house had. A smell of fried foods and grease that clung to the walls and never really went away. Her home was cluttered with artifacts she found in yard sales or inherited from some relative. Nothing at all was from the present decade. Not even the TV.

Maggie Summers was well on her way to having a hoarded house. Her indifferent housekeeping skills and the general bad odor to the place made him thankful Norma was so picky about keeping a spotless home. His wife would never have allowed their house to deteriorate to this. Never allow stacks of newspapers to sit on a coffee table and empty milk jugs to languish on the kitchen floor.

"How… how involved was your dad with the motel?" Alex asked uncomfortably.

He sat on the chair Maggie offered him. A chair that had a faded floral fabric and a goose pillow on in.

"Well, I mean he ran it. He and grandpa. You know after mom died and we were all living in the big house. It was a lot nicer than the trailer. We lived there until I finished high school. I don't know if was all that successful." Maggie admitted. "You know how he was with drinking."

"You went to a little junior college in Portland." Alex said. He remembered Maggie had been the first one in her family to even finish high school.

She nodded.  
"I wanted to study accounting but I ran out of money." she smiled with difficulty. "Couldn't finish."

"Your dad… he ran everything when your granddad became sick. Had to go into the nursing home. When was that?"

"I think in the early 80's maybe?" Maggie mused. "Why?"

"The motel had one of those old sign in guest books. Right?" Alex asked.

"Yeah." Maggie nodded.

"Any chance you still have them? I would want to see all of them." Alex asked.

Maggie looked suspicious.

"Why?" she asked.

"You can just tell me no." Alex said. "I don't want to get a court order. It's better if you help me. I know your grandfather and your dad didn't use a computer. That Keith didn't either. They had to have a book."

Maggie looked uncomfortable.

"Look, everyone's dead now. It's not hurting them. You're not loyal to them anymore." Alex told her.

"I have all the books." she admitted. "I have a lot of stuff from he old motel. Couldn't bear to toss it out. So much of my childhood was spent there. My first job was cleaning those rooms."

"I know." Alex said. "Those rooms. You remember what the shower curtains were like?"

She looked at him strangely.

"Yeah." she said. "Dad always bought them in bulk along with the towels. People had sticky fingers. It was cheaper that way. I still have a bunch. Still use them." she smiled.

"I need to see them." Alex said soberly.


End file.
